The Artist's Brush
by xXDemonic AngelXx
Summary: Drake is caught up in travels around, trying to find World War II relics. The plan goes south when Drake is captured, leaving Sully to call a new friend, while Drake figures out how to free his mind from the claws of the enemy. Abused, exhausted, new language barriers and no one to trust, another adventure that Nathan questions if he will escape with his sanity.
1. Just Run a Bit More

**Chapter 1**

Nathan Drake lifted up his shirt, feeling the blood sticking to the fabric. He gave a slight grunt, holding his breath. He accidentally looked in the mirror, seeing the bruises, cuts, and the bullet wound trying to expel from the careful wrapping. He cringed, hoping Sully's female doctor could look at it and help, naturally payment defaulting to Nate and Sully's other beneficial talents. Money was too tight these days. Running as an orphan almost seemed like a better idea.

 _But I don't want to worry about park benches or slides or trees or hunger. Sully might as well be my godfather. God dammit man, you're almost 30. Grow up and take care of your shit. It's just a scrape._

Nathan turned around to his bed, a twin that was sunk in the middle, the crap metal creaking as he put his weight on it, clearly crying the bed needed maintenance. He flicked the light off on the lamp, the only source of light in the room, gasping a few times as the pain flared here and everywhere. Soon enough, sleep took his mind, attempting to crash him into darkness.

/\/\/\~~

He was staring at Sully, the old man waving his gun and pointing at the stars. "See the bright one? Go now and follow that!"

Nathan stared at him, unable to just leave his friend behind. A bullet whizzed by his head though, and he kicked his legs into action, glancing up at the stars. He thought Sully was talking about the North Star. He'd at least never been told to follow anything else. The trees were dark, the moon half full, but no city lights interrupted the shimmering sky.

 _Just follow the star; it should take me to the tent._

More gunshots followed him, but not as close as they had been a minute ago. Nathan kept an eye out for a good climbing tree, still determined to hinder their main pursuers. Nathan had met some evil thieves and treasure hunters in the past, but these days, it was tough to tell if women or men were more diabolical. Nate dipped to the left, pulling himself up as far as he could. He could barely see the little flares from the gunfire. He could hear shotguns and the AK's, some single shot's being fired... He kept an eye out for one...maybe he could spot it. He hadn't run too far yet. He scanned the horizon, seeing at least ten people running towards a lone figure, a single shot firing out.

"Sullivan!" Nathan looked down and around, unable to get to him quick enough. He climbed out of the tree and began running, using his flex and long legs to dodge roots and rocks. He knew he was getting closer—he was running a Hell of a lot faster than before. He tried listening for any sounds, but only heard his breathing and dirt. Suddenly he was on the ground, a gun pointed in his side.

"I thought I told you to follow the star."

"Come on, they're gonna get you!"

Nathan couldn't believe he had found the old man. They took off together, Nate following closely. A shot rang out to their right, Nate beginning to smile as they were starting to get away. These were your normal guards, not mercenaries or military based. After a few more minutes, the two slowed down to a warm pace, seeing their tent on the edge of a clearing.

Nathan gave a light chuckle. "How'd you enjoy that run?"

Sully chuckled. "Some days I wonder if it's the running that's going to give me a heart attack. You can take first watch after you explain why you came back. You know I could've shot you, right?"

"Well, yeah. I know. But I got here with you. They all descended at once, and I want us to get out of here without being captured. Plus we're going to have to go over the stars again because I didn't know which way to go."

"Damn it Nate. Well, keep an eye out and we'll swap in a bit. We're out in the morning."

Sully disappeared into the small grey tent, within a few minutes snores escaping out the flap. Nathan stretched, keeping his ears open for anything unusual. He was exhausted but content. His and Sully's broad frame needed work outs like this. It's been about twelve years since Nathan met Victor. Nathan quickly grew to meet Sully's size and expertise, his dear brother Sam able to join for bits at a time. But that was a story for another time. The only other heir was dead in a fucking dungeon down in the depths of Panama. Fucking Rafe, bloody arse.

Nate tried loosening up against the boulder he found, brushing those last year's off. They were in Norway, luckily during the summer, and only to stick around for a few days. And they just completed the third day. Walk to port tomorrow, take a boat back to the United Kingdom, take the train, hop onto Sully's plane, then home. They got their info, the guards were stupid, it had been successful.

The dull moon danced shadows in the trees, across the grass and small plants. It was a beautiful sight, unlike the apartments he had to call home. _Someday I'll live in the open, trees filling the winds with the light crash of waves in the background...every morning waking to the birds. No guns, cars, civilians..._ he felt his brain shift, hearing a dull clatter... Nate shot up, looking around. His paranoia took hold, chest tight. He heard the soft snores from the tent, shifting into a crouch and looking around, all shadows seeming to hold still. He ran to the nearest tree, then the next to climb up and look around for scouts. He waited, stiff, breathing with the wind. A branch crunched to his left, suddenly a walkie crackling.

"Left parameter clear"

Silence.

Nathan looked around, trying to find any shimmer of the post. He finally found the figure about two hundred feet away. They were stumbling too close to the tent. Nathan slipped down the tree, carefully stepping towards the person. They stopped on the edge, spotting the tent. Nathan stepped out and wrapped his arms around the neck, twisting tight. Laying the body down, he saw the figure was female, causing him to take a step back. This wasn't his first with a female, business was business, but when scouts were reporting, he couldn't call back. He shot back to the tent, ruffling the flaps. "Sully, wake up. We have a problem."

"Damn it kid...not now..."

"One of the scouts was female. We have to get out."

Sully raised his head, wiping his eyes. "All right, give me a minute. Go watch."

Nathan snuck back out, checking his holster. It'd only be a matter of time until they checked with every member of the squad. These guys weren't professionals, but they weren't bare bottom dollar pay. They were clever, but could be outsmarted. "All right kid, ready?"

Nathan nodded and they quickly grabbed their bags, taking off towards the left, bouncing between trees and rocks and shrubs. They kept an even pace, not able to get to the boat too early otherwise it'd raise suspicion. They finally eased up after a few miles, Nate checking his satchel and pockets. He believed he had everything he needed still. "Pick up anything useful inside that concrete prison?" They both shifted the duffel bags on their backs, Nathan trying to loosen his shoulders.

"No, not really, maybe where Hitler may have told false promises to the captured, but, those cups and toy set... that's going to change everything."

"Interesting... Mass murderer loves your kids just as much as you do, he provides day care centers until your family was put on the list for slaughter."

"It seems like that, but something is off still. There's so much more that were missing."

"Still got some time to kill. Look through that book, maybe you'll find a map or something else that's useful."

They proceeded to walk the last few miles, camping out until they had to load the boat.

/\/\/\~~

Nathan felt burning across his eyes, groaning and trying to open them. He brought his arm up and wiped the crust away, his side flaring in pain again. "I gotta quit jumping from roofs," he muttered, sitting up. He slid into the floor and pulled his shirt off, checking the visual damage. Nothing detrimental besides bruises, typical cuts, maybe a few stitches were needed across his ribs. He crossed deliriously to the bathroom, the door blowing in his left side. He gasped, seeing all black body armor. He dodged a shotgun, hiding behind some broken stone. Suddenly his head was bashed against the wall, then three more times.

"Ahh mate, you're pretty good at dodging bullets."

"Not as good as dodging your mom. She's pretty clever. But I like crafty."

His skull met brick again, blood now clearly running down his face.

"We don't care what you say. You're our pet now."

Nate tried pulling away but they had his hair tight in their grasp. He was too damaged to put up a fight, but soon he hoped he could. "I'm not a little bitch."

The two men laughed. "We know. You're a right tricky bastard," the one on the left replied. British accent. Black glasses. Simple armor compared to his friend. "We know you're full of tricks. But now, we're going to pull one on you."

They pulled Nathan up, dragging him out of the collapsing room. No one was around to watch. Naturally Nathan had picked the scummiest, cheapest, most discreet motel in the area. Naturally, you know, the type the bad guys frequent and pay the staff to squeal.

"You see," Senior Brit started, "you're quite an escape artist. Almost like a magician. But you like to dapple in death. That's a true magician. So, our question for you is, can you escape our trick?"

"Please, enlighten me on the theatrics. Lights, music, those sexy helpers... how many trapdoor's are there? Audience? What venue are you looking at?"

As the elevator door opened, he was thrown headfirst into the wall. "You think you're fucking funny?"

Nathan slowly turned, the blood dripping onto his bare chest. "My mom once-"

"Cut the crap."

The butt of the gun whipped the side of his cheek, sliding hard across his face. Nathan let out a short laugh, welcoming the black descent. The elevator doors opened, the armored guy hoisting Nate across his back. The darkness slowly descended, his head spinning as he finally felt himself being tossed down... fabric was rough, no seats, the dull click and murmur of voices...was he in the trunk? His mind fought but his body won. He slipped into unconsciousness as the dull vibrations of the car rocked him away.

* * *

Here's...the start of my uncharted fic. I have become super obsessed with the games after i played the fourth, now I can't get over the third one, BUT this is all before the first game/Eye of Indra. Like, just a few years. Because I dont have the chapters actually broken up, it's just kind of one long story, some chapters may seem really short. I think this one is the shortest. Anywho, here's my first take on uncharted, i hope some stick around to see it through with me.


	2. Language Barrier

**Chapter 2**

"Are you trusting this?" Sully asked, suspicious of everyone around them.

"You showed me the ropes. If your gut says something, we need to turn back now."

"We don't have anywhere at the moment. All we need is to get back. We should be able to accurately scan the book now in the rooms. Otherwise, just keep your hands close to your possessions. Don't trust anyone. Remember faces, of whose around you at all times. And watch. For. Guns. We're cornered here for a bit."

Nathan nodded, and they slowly made their way towards their quarters, not much of anyone around. All seemed quiet, the two settling in. Nathan laid down on his twin, the mattress soft and worn. Even with the bars digging in his back, he didn't mind. "Lay down kid, it's been a day for you. I have watch for a bit. Just relax."

Nathan didn't need to be told twice. The gentle rocking put him to sleep, his arms behind his head, left leg propped against the wall. He didn't even want to take his boots off. He slipped off, falling to the past of the orphanage.

He was looking out the window, wondering what mischief his brother was into. What adventures, experiences, life lessons he was learning. Nate sighed and slipped back onto his bed. He was so jealous. He didn't want to be stuck here, but he was too young to be on his own. He tried thinking of a few more years but he didn't know if he could wait. _I'm just ten. I think I could make it... There are a lot of orphans out there, but it's going to be so much harder than trapped in here. All I need is patience and just a few more years. Tops at fifteen, I can get out like Sam._ Nathan turned to his shelves, grabbing one in Latin. It was a favorite, but he still had a little difficulty translating. At least the nuns appreciated his excitement for history and enjoyed helping his curiosity with the Latin. He let the language lull him to sleep, the letters and practices floating around his brain.

Nathan began to wake, a few phrases stuck in his mind. He began mumbling them, trying to sit up,

"Sit down Nate, lay back down. What are you rambling?"

"Luna modo sol interitus, nisi te... Luna...luna… Solis, solis... Nisi te, nisi te…"

He opened the journal, Sully calling our warningly. "Nathan... What are you doing?

"Nox...quarentes malum in...perniciem in laudem, et, vincere, vincere vincere non fidelibus..."

"Nathan you're scaring me. Don't make me smack you on the head..."

"Latin... It's all here..." Nathan tried flipping the pages but a rock of the boat knocked him down. He tried pulling himself back to the table, but Sully was pulling him back to the bed. "No, nullam, no, abeam..."

"Jesus Nathan, you gotta start speaking English. I don't understand what you're saying. Why Latin all of a sudden?"

"The god damn nuns..." Sully laid him back on his bed, Nathan trying to remember what he said. "The, the moon is the way, and, the sun...is...destruction. Save, save yourself," he breathed out. "Theres...umm, an evil man of the night, maybe, Hitler, seeking praise through destruction. Umm, vanquishing, to, to vanquish the non believers. Just, just let me go. No, no, no, no no no..."

Another rock of the boat rolled Nathan over, a calm breathing overcoming the young man.

"What the hell was that boyo? I've never heard you speak Latin like that. You've let on, but never like that. Nobody better have overheard that." Sully walked over to the door, cracking it open and sneaking out. Taking the cigar out of his breast pocket and the zippo out of his pants, he meandered closest to the deck, still able to keep an eye on the room. He lit up, a few others out on the deck, the conversations drifting like the wind and waves. He puffed away, hoping he could get some sleep after this. He rolled his shoulders, trying to ignore what just happened. _I wonder if he'll even remember. That was creepy as hell. I know it's a dead language, but, I wasn't expecting it to give me the shakes that it did._

The waves rolled, the boat cruised, something caught the edge of his eye. He looked over, not sure if it was by his room. Sighing, he flicked the half gone cigar over the edge. "All good things must come to an end...and the rest of that is not good."

He snuck to the room, letting out his breath before crouching around the corner and opening the door. He saw legs and tackled, getting kicked in the chest, hard. He gripped in pressure points as he pulled himself up the body, the person immobilized and gasping. "Okay you little brat, give me what you took and I'll try not to disfigure you for the rest of your life."

The person—male, he realized—released the journal, Sully holding his neck as he gave him a pat down on the backside, flipping him over and using a pressure point on his bicep, searched the front, finding one of the kiddie treasures Nathan had found back at the compound.

"All right, mister, I could kill you right here. It'd be quiet and easy. What are you looking for?"

"Money...just money items."

The man couldn't be much younger than Nate. "If I ever catch you snooping around these quarters again, I will kill you. And any of your buddies that are hiding around here. Got it?"

The man nodded, Sully squeezing painfully before letting go, the man scrambling up and away, Sully trying to see how far he was going. The man made it to the end, banked left. Sully went back into the room, Nathan still passed out. He locked the door, propped a chair underneath the handle, and set an alarm on his phone. The boat wasn't going to be at the port any time soon, but he could try to get some sleep. Nathan may wake up soon too.

/\/\/\~~~

Nate groaned as a light hit his face, hands grabbing his arms and pulling him up. He looked at the men, but it was useless. The sun was too bright and he was still pretty exhausted, but at least he felt like his brain was a little clearer. He might actually stand a chance of getting away. But, he wasn't wearing a shirt or shoes. That could cause a problem. He was dragged through a door, his eyes taking a second to adjust to the sudden dimming of light.

He looked up, but a fist across his face as the arms released brought him back to the floor. "Good afternoon Mr. Drake. It's such a pleasure for you to join us."

"Trust me, the pleasure is radiating through right now. I'm glowing."

He opened his eyes, seeing a dark suit, standing back up to see the face. Dark brunette hair, long face. Nose was a bit crooked from being smashed previously. Blue eyes. Captivating blue eyes. Nathan felt goose bumps crawling down his spine. The man smiled. "We've met in crossing."

"I'd remember your eyes though. Who are you?"

"Let me introduce my friend," another voice piped up, walking forward. Nathan stood straighter, crossing his arms against his bare chest. "What the hell happened to your hair?"

Harry Flynn looked at Nathan, smiling. "Decided to sharpen up for the summer. You like?"

Drake scrunched his nose. "Hopefully the blonde didn't sink through and bleach your brain as well."

"Well Sally, this here is going to be your new boss. I introduce to you, Mr. Axel Keller. Mr. Keller has been following your work for a few years now, from all over all ready, and he'd like to help you out."

"There's nothing I need help with. I can figure everything out on my own, thank you. I've been around a bit, it's not like I'm brand new."

Mr. Keller stepped forward, enclosing their space. "Be a shame if..." Suddenly Nathan gasped, unable to stop his response to the pain other than grabbing Keller's arm. "Something were to happen to permanently debilitate your skills. Now, Mr. Drake, how would you like me to remove my fingers from your side wound?"

"I've...had worse..."

"Oh really?" He heard the grin in the deep voice, and felt a pinch along what could have been a nerve or muscle. Nathan couldn't breathe. His eyes watered, his grip began to waver on the man's arm. "The nerve that I have right now, your intercostal, will leave you permanently in pain, and by the time I'm through with you, you're most likely going to bleed out anyway." He slowly removed his fingers, raising the two in front of Nathan's face. "It's that easy. All I have to do it pull and you will feel it all around your chest and spine, spreading from there. You think you can't breathe now? Wait until that nerve has been severed."

Nathan began controlling his breath, sweat suddenly covering his body. The blood was flowing freely down his side, but he kept his teeth grit. "I wish you dug out the bullet while you were in there. Would've made the show more worthwhile."

A gun fired three rapid shots, the barrel shoved onto Nathan's wound. "You want a bullet in your side, boy? By the angle and depth of the cut there was never a bullet in there. You just needed some stitches." Nathan felt his knees go weak, wanted to crumple on the ground, but the gun dug in a little deeper. He bit his tongue, closed his eyes for a moment as the room began to swim. "You are going to work for me, and if you don't accept, then I will personally see to it that you are never able to hunt again. You're nothing more than a god damn thief. What reputable contacts you have now, I will see to it that every fed and agency knows your name. No one will trust you, and you will never be able to be hired anywhere. Is that the future you want?"

Nathan was breathing short and heavy, trying not to move too much. The sting was beginning to fade at least. The gun had cooled and it'd be taken away in a moment. "What do you want from me? What makes you think I even have whatever?"

The gun was pulled away, Nathan trying to stand up straight, but he couldn't stop his muscles from shaking. "If you have what I'm looking for, then that will save us a lot of time. Otherwise, I know you have to skills to succeed in retrieving it. Do you...know the name Anton Drexler?"

"Yeah, he was the guy that got Hitler into that whole Worker's Party."

"Good, yes, he left a journal behind, or diary, and I want to know what's in the book."

"And you think the book is where?"

"Norway or Austria."

Nathan let out a sigh. "Neither. Austria is too simple. There's no leads or family out there from what I have found. Norway, that was a fucking joke."

"What do you mean?" Keller's voice sharpened again.

"Maybe it was Drexler's book. Maybe not. The book was a set of celestial patterns for when Hitler wanted to do all of the attacks on the Allies. There's a bit of Latin, but I don't see how I could have overlooked anything. How can Drexler he be a part of the stash Hitler left behind?"

"Where's the book?"

"I don't have it. Now, how can Drexler be a part of Hitler's stash?"

"We'll talk more about this later. You best get that damn book. And get yourself patched up. I'm tired of you bleeding all over my floor."

"I'm tired of bleeding. So it's fair."

Keller gave a short smile before he shoved the bottom of his boot square in Nathan's chest, Nathan falling backwards, but the cronies caught him. "Cut your attitude, get that book, and we'll be in touch."

Nathan was dragged back outside, different car though, he thought, and was shoved back into the trunk. He groaned as his side flared up, sweat beading along his forehead again. He wouldn't be surprised if the wound was infected now. Guns were disgusting. Especially handguns with simple standard maintenance. He tried relaxing, figuring out how to get a hold of Sully so he could do something about the book. He was sure their phones were tapped. Or, he could just tell the old man what was going on. He needed to get that friends number anyway. It'd still be another few days before Sully would be back from...whatever Navy thing came up that needed his sole experience.

 _My thoughts are scattering...I must be losing more blood than I expected. What are the chances they're going to drop me off at a hospital?_

He tried his best to stay awake, to know that he wasn't going to die right then and there, but Keller seemed experienced. _No, no Keller knew what he was doing. He wasn't going to let me die. I wonder what Flynn told him._

Nathan held it together long enough, cringing again when the trunk opened. He was grabbed out of the trunk, tossed on the ground, and the car drove off. Nathan picked himself up and didn't care if anyone was watching. Maybe they'd enjoy the show of his physique and be clueless to the oozing hole in his side. He made it to the elevator, graced with a little luck that no one was on board when he stumbled in. He pressed the fourth floor, trying not to smear blood. He let his mind drift as the elevator slowly moved up, his body exhausted from the lack of nutrition and sudden beating. "Shower...munchies...Sully. I can do this. Just a few more minutes, and the pain hopefully will be gone. I can do this. It's nothing new."

He stumbled to his room, door unlocked, nothing ransacked. He stacked as much items against the door as he could, just in case the goons came back. The shower was quick and painful, but the wounds across his head and side were clean. He ate the rest of the leftovers from the night before as he dialed up Sully, hoping the man would answer. _He always interrupts me, why can't I interrupt him?_

"Nathan! What do you need?"

"The number for your surgeon lady. Is she around?"

"What? Why do you need Sarah?" _That's right, Sarah the surgeon. I may have been knocked around too many times._ "Nathan, what's going on?"

Nate laid down on his mattress, the bed frame being used against the door. "Well, I was shot...some time...but there's no bullet. I needed just a few stitches but now I'm thinking I need a bit more than that."

"Why were you shot? Damn it Nate, I can't leave you alone for five minutes..."

"It's been five days. I was trying to get into the museum. They have some World War Two artifacts I wanted to look at. The guards surprised me on the way out. Totally ambushed my escape plan."

"Do you have the artifacts?"

Nathan smiled. "Of course I do. Like I said, I wanted to look at them and it's not going to be while they're in a glass case. But, whatever, I have a side wound, I'd like some stitches and blood, maybe a Vicodin or muscle relaxer or something...a beer...soup..."

Nathan felt his mind beginning to slip. His voice was definitely getting harder to keep steady. "Nathan, I'm two days out. We won't be finished until tomorrow. Sarah's in Puerto Vallarta right now on vacation. Sorry, I called her two days ago asking for her expertise. Keep the wound patched. Get some sleep, and you'll be fine. Don't forget to eat. You tend to do that a lot."

"Okay...do you know of a solid patch though that could cover open muscle about the size of gun tip?"

"What? What the hell happened?"

"Flynn has a new boss. Bossy wants my help. Bossy apparently knows physical anatomy and all, threatened to rip out my intercostal. So he shoved the hot tip of a gun in the hole, and now he wants the book we found back in Norway. And you're at least three days away. I don't think they have that patience."

"All right Kid. Seems like you've got yourself into a doozy right here. I'll try to do what I can. Tell him the book is being used for more Hitler jewel finding stuff. Like his artwork or something. He'll have it back."

"Yeah, sounds good. All right. I'll let you go. I think I can manage to sew the wound up. At least part of it was cauterized."

"Careful. I need you alive and safe. I can't do all this on my own anymore."

"I know. At least this last decade has been pretty nice. Talk to you soon."

Nathan hung up, cringing as he moved his side. It was going to be another long night. He sat back up, pushing the exhaustion from his mind. There was still a bit of evening sun out, so he was thinking that he'd be able to fix the wound a bit more. "I hate sewing myself up. It fucking hurts." He pulled his duffle bag closer and opened a side pocket, pulling out his bandage kit. He grabbed the surgeon's needle and thread, sanitized the area, and went into the bathroom, putting a towel in between his teeth. He pierced himself and tried to make quick work of it. Sweat flowed, hands shook, muscles flexed. He screamed into the towel, blood once again escaping down his side. It was only about five or six minutes of suffering, but he felt like it had been a solid hour. He lightly wiped the blood off, sanitizing the area again. It wasn't pretty, but it would hold. At least he didn't think he'd get an infection now, and definitely wouldn't lose any more blood. As for replenishing the blood loss...

Nathan eyed the fridge, even though nothing more was in there, instead grabbing a glass of water, chugged it, and refilled it, setting it next to his mattress. He laid down, deciding screw it, and fell back asleep. He'd eat in the morning. _Maybe at a diner. Ooo, that sounds good..._

/\/\/\~~~

Nathan woke up, confused for a moment. The lights were on, Sully was in the bed across from him, door double protected with a chair, their bags, the single petty suitcase holder, and Nathan saw carefully placed was Sully's lighter. Nathan actually stood up, wondering what gave. Sully always kept the zippo on him. It was open, placed between two books. Nathan's books. The bindings were bent, but the hardback was able to lodge the zippo in place as they tried to fold back to normal. He shook the table a little, surprised at the simple, solid hold. At least the books were 500 hundred pages to help with the hold. But, if someone had tried to bust the door open, the lighter would make a distinctive... _No... But, would he react?_ Nathan picked up the lighter carefully, looked at Sully, sleeping peacefully on his back, deep breaths raising the chest. Nathan simply flicked the lid closed, and without missing a beat, Sully was up and Nathan ducked, not wanting another gun pointed at him. Sully saw him crouched, then sighed and laid back down, placing the gun back into hiding. He held out his hand. "Jesus kid, stop with the heart attacks all ready. I'm not done exploring yet."

Nathan handed him the lighter, Sully rolling over onto his front. "Just had to see. I'll ahh, keep watch then. Work on the book a little."

"Yeah, go back to your mumbo jumbo language."

Nathan found the book under his pillow with his gun, the rest of his satchel hanging on the edge, closest to the wall. He propped himself up, not going to change the lighting if they had already been sleeping under them for who knows how long. Nathan flipped through the pages, the words switching between German, Latin, English, Polish... Nate flipped through the pages faster, wondering how much he may actually be able to translate. He saw stars and planets, slowing down to sun positions. Everything was so specific. He kept back and turned, catching a bit, _Die Sonne, sol meum. The sun, my sun... What the hell are they going on about?_

 _SIEG! SIEG! SIEG! SIEG!_ All the way down another page, victory over and over and over for four pages. Nathan finished flipping through the last pages, seeing the date was _June 30, 1934._ He slowly flipped back to the front, trying to read or at least get the concept of what the book was about. The drawings were magnificent, specific as they laid out planets and drawings of shadows on the ground, with the sun's locations, wind even drawn in.

He slowly progressed for a while, time not even a concept as he was swallowed by the words, trying to grasp why everything was so jumbled up. This person had to have known at least eight languages. This was going to take longer than he expected. He stretched, pausing on another language, eyes gliding to the moon and how detailed it was. He couldn't recognize any of the words on this page, but the handwriting was loopier than normal. More cursive, elegant, a little rushed though. _At least the guy was happy._ He slowly turned the page, seeing dates and more drawings of the shadows, finally falling on the new moon. "What the hell? What were they planning?"

The more elated the handwriting, the more pressure was put into shading. More languages he couldn't translate, besides a quick bit of 'Greatness' and 'Conquer' in Latin. He sighed when he realized he had barely broken the ten page mark, when there was quite a bit more. His head was spinning. "So, get this," he quietly said, sitting up. "Moon arrangements, sun arrangements, planet arrangements. Those...are standard readings. It's what they had to do in the day. Stars. Wind. Gave them direction..." Nathan looked back at the book, looking at the detail of the wind. Some nights the wind was heavy and thick, other nights, like the full moon, it looked like it was hardly blowing. "What a coincidence right there..."

Sully finally began to stir after Nathan managed a few more pages figured out, the writer changing his language maybe on his mood? But there weren't any slang words or shorthand words for the moment, so that seemed like a plus.

"How's it going, Kid?"

"Not too bad. I just need to know if you recognize any of these languages. The author flips around quite a bit."

"In a minute. Let me wake up a bit. At least my little wall held. Anyone stop by?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Good. I believe we still have a few days left. Trip should take about four like on our way to Norway. We're probably at least one day down."

"Yeah. And what food do we have?"

"A little. There should be a food cart around here somewhere too. More money for the sailors."

"And less chance of living for us."

Sully started pulling things away from the door, Nathan getting up and helping. Sully opened the door, Nate following to stretch his legs. He was only going to stand in front of the door though for a moment. He couldn't afford any of his things being taken. "I'm going to find the john then have a smoke," Sully said, walking back down the hall. "Keep an eye out for a young punk. Black bag, dark hair, a little younger than you. Smaller in stature though."

"Wait—what? Why?" But the old man was gone. Nathan went back into the room, sitting on the floor and doing a few of his favorite stretches, hopping up and down to keep his body going. He couldn't allow his body to weaken at all. Heal, yes, but weaken, no. Why this punk though? What happened that Sully would single him out? Did something happen while he was asleep? "Whatever. I have the book still and a vague idea that it's about astronomy. Great."

Nathan finished his exercises when Sully came in, the older man looking at him. "So what help do you need with the book?"

"What happened while I was sleeping?"

Sully crossed his arms, but shook his head and sat on his bed. "Well, you woke up and went all Latin on me. Wanted the book. Something about the sun and moon and vanquishing, and saving yourself? Yeah, you flew off the handle, I don't know what happened. Went out to smoke after I laid you back down and found a younger guy in the room, grabbed the journal and one of the toys, looking for money."

Nathan racked his brain, trying to remember. "I dreamt of the orphanage. But, nothing big. Maybe that's what triggered the Latin. As for the punk, I'm sure they won't be back, thankfully. I need you to look at the book and see if you can recognize any of the languages. I know you know a bit, but I can barely scratch the surface of the German and French."

Nathan handed the book off, Sully leaning back and already began making leeway. "These look like plans for attacks..." Sully finally mentioned. "These are descriptive, and drawn well. There's coordinates, cities, all the positions of the sun and moon? Hell, even the wind speed is impressive."

"Exactly. So, they apparently were planning attacks. But, this is like ten years before the end of the war. Did Hitler know what was going to happen? Did he purposefully plan for this?"

"Well, there was the whole Blitzkrieg, but this journal was five years before any of those attacks. Maybe this could have been a back-up plan if the Blitzkrieg failed. But how could they predict the weather patterns years and years ahead? Or were these patterns from that specific day and what they thought the near future would hold?"

Nathan rubbed his temples, trying to wrap his head around this. They had in their hands a sneak peak to the German's thinking, but it was only beginning to raise more questions than answer. "So, we don't know. You're Mr. Navy, this all makes a bit more sense to you than me. Like, you were in the Navy when they were coming away from this type of teaching and all. What's your best judgment?

Sully sat there for a moment, hand propped against his chin and mouth, eyes focused on the journal pages, slowly flipping. "Well, first off, we need more information. We can't start jumping to conclusions. There's so much more to this book than we can uncover. My opinion is the whole Nazi plans were meant to be from the get go, from like the end of World War I. These are just a few pages, but glancing at the whole picture, these guys knew more than we ever expected. We've been taught to be weary of the Germans, the German's have been taught to never know their past anymore, but overall, we need to get in touch with some people who can help us out."

"So we're way off base over here. We have no idea what's going to come of this book." Nathan laid back on his bed, staring at the smokey-yellow ceiling. "You know some people then?"

"Yeah, I know a few. They'll definitely go a lot faster on this project than we will, respect the knowledge, and probably be upset that it's not in a museum. But, yes, I know a few people."

"Anywhere close?"

"Langley, Virginia. You know, our favorite place to be around."

"Shit. Well, at least we can get your plane and fly directly there."

"Yeah, I'll get it figured out. I think a friend still owns a hangar out there."

Nathan stared at the ceiling for a moment longer. "These are going to be some long days."

"Just think about when you were sent to prison. I mean, those two times have to be better than this."

Nathan shot up, pointing a finger at Sully. "I'll have you know, the first time was because of _you_ , and the second time was to get information! So, no, the only time was because of you..."

* * *

And another! My goal is to not ditch this story for a few months or whatever, like i have my other stories, besides the oneshots. I've been watching these uncharted "movies" on youtube that have helped remind me of the games, Nathan and Sully's character, so i'm really stoked. In the next few chapters, i will say Nathan will not be his normal character, but i will do my best to represent his smartass, witty, cocky self, all description that Marlow threw at him, because it's so true. Anywho, enjoy, will try to update within a week, see y'all soon!


	3. A New Home

**Chapter 3**

Nathan woke up, sun shining bright in his eyes. He groaned, feeling groggy. Worse than he thought he should feel. He sat up, looking at the door and seeing all of his stuff pushed away. He quickly looked around and his eyes landed on the bleach blonde bimbo sitting against the wall, chair leaning against the wall and his eyes were closed. "The hell are you doing here Princess?"

"Well, well, well, looks like Sleeping Beauty decided to wake up." Flynn sat the chair straight, stood up, and walked closer to Nate, crouching down. "But, sorry Aurora, I gave you a bit of this to make sure you weren't going to wake up anytime soon."

He pulled out a silver vial, Nathan unsure of what it was. "What is that?"

"A little bit of serum Mr. Keller has discovered. There's just a little bit here, but it's enough to ensure your cooperation. Now, you seem to have slept well over the last twenty hours, so, what is this journal about that isn't in your hands?"

Nate looked at Flynn. "So you haven't found it here, that's a good start." As Nathan stared at Flynn's green eyes, the room began to pulse. "I said, you haven't found it here," Nathan breathed out.

"Oh yes Sweetheart, it's not here, don't fret your pretty little head." The pulsing picked up, smearing everything, spinning Nate's mind and making him dizzy, causing him to fall back onto the mattress. His breathing increased, sweat sticking to the sheets again. Sounds didn't matter, except Harry's voice. He needed to hear the man again.

"So now what?" he gasped, eyes closed, hands gripping the sheets to keep him on a stable surface.

"Like Mr. Keller said, you're in our work now. The book will come back like you said it would in your phone call. So, you're going to come with me, we're going to see your new friend, and see what the next location may be. I'm sorry Nathan, but until this is finished, you are Mr. Keller's personal helper. And you're not going to fight it. If anything good comes out of this, you may be paid handsomely. So, what do you say mate?"

"I'm not your god damn mate. Don't act like we're friends. Not even accomplices."

"Your answer, Nathan," Flynn pressed, the room pulsing more with each of the men's words.

"Yes, I agree," Nathan grunted out, his stomach twisting. He curled onto his side, fetal position, as a case of cramps appeared in his lower abdomen. He grunted, Flynn suddenly placing a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong Drake? This isn't supposed to happen. What hurts?"

The pain escalated, Nathan biting his wrist to try to distract him. The room flared in reds and golds and greens and blues, Flynn hardly standing out. He might as well have been a wardrobe. "What...did...you do...to me?"

"Just...a little insurance policy... Do you need a drink or something?"

Nathan shook his head, taking hold of his arm in his teeth as he felt himself slide off the bed. His body was overheating, his mind was filled with pain and colors and noise from his body and surroundings. His abdomen felt like a pack of adults was thoroughly jumping on it, right above his groin, he wanted to throw up, but a quick tightness of his throat suggested suffocation. He felt himself being lifted, twisting his body and falling back down, Flynn's voice calling out.

"Driver, we need you and three others. Mr. Keller's, pronto. Get him out of here, now."

 _"NO!"_ Nathan screamed, loud enough for his voice to catch, throat crack, and a small round of coughs to overcome him.

"Easy partner, come on now, just breathe. I don't know what's happening. But, Keller will know of the solution. Easy buddy, just breathe. In and out, in and out..."

Nathan was rolled onto his front, right arm pulled over his head gently. _"Easy now...breathe with me..."_ He felt the breath roll over his shoulders, feeling like an ocean breeze. Just slightly cooler than him... The cramps tried fighting back, but it was almost two notches better. Something bearable. His breathing began to ease, his mind spinning in circles. He didn't like laying here. He needed to move, even out his disjointed bearings. _"That's right partner. Easy now, we're going to get you someplace safe."_

Suddenly, he was being lifted. _"No, no no no!"_ Nate tried swinging his head, but the sudden vertigo from the helper cronies quieted him back down.

" _That's a nice patch job,"_ he thought he heard.

"Called your mom..." he dully replied, unsure of what was real or not. The colors weren't blinding him like before, but everything was moving in a captivating motion while his heart continued to beat like something horrible was going to happen.

" _Smack him!"_

" _Don't touch him! I don't know what's wrong. Mr. Keller has to see him immediately. If anything his fickle mouth will alert us if he seems to be getting better."_

" _Whatever. You know the guy."_

Nathan felt something under him, causing him to curl back into a ball, gripping his hair with his hands. It was too much. He needed to get out of this mindset now. But the floor was flowing back and forth, kissing the bottom of the chair ever so lightly whenever there was a bump. Nate watched it for a moment, waiting for the carpet to roll up, but it never did...then... There it was! Nathan let out a small giggle as he waited for it to happen again. It was this or get sick.

When the car began to slow more than just a few seconds for a light or stop sign, Nathan could begin to pick himself up off the back seat. Still nauseous, he had a very far-away opinion about reality. He was walked through a dim garage, nothing more elaborate than housing their nondescript cars. He shut his eyes through each doorway, trying to not feel like another layer shed off of him with the passing.

"You going to make it?" he heard Flynn ask softly, grip not easing up off Nate's arm.

"Maybe," Nate breathed, his stomach churning again. He dropped to the floor, Flynn holding a hand on his shoulder.

" _Daly, Ripley! Get Keller now!"_

Nathan felt disassociated again, reality beginning to waver and the colors beginning to become one again. He groaned, sliding more onto his right side, the wall and Flynn barely supporting him. Finally, finally... Nate lifted himself and threw up, mostly liquid and bile. He felt some splatter on his leg and arm. He shakily wiped his face with the back of his hand, round two soon coming. His head spinning, he did everything to not fall back into his own filth. He felt someone lifting him away, something on his mouth and hands... He tried opening his eyes but it was black. No colors finally, no noises, just the swirling whirlpool of a stomach, swaying back and forth, back and forth...

/\/\

"We're a lucky one, aren't we Nathan... There we go..."

Nathan's eyes flickered, shutting quickly from the intrusive light. He couldn't move. His muscles wouldn't allow it.

"Don't worry. You'll be up and moving soon enough," a deeper voice said, almost no accent.

He tried shaking his head but he couldn't. "Easy. So, we're going to explain real quick, and you're going to ponder it until you can move again," the lighter, British voice said. _Flynn…_ he recognized. "Courtesy from my hand you've been poisoned. I didn't realize you hadn't eaten, in what, barely three days? So what was supposed to be a simple truth serum ended up with you tripping your balls off. Now, we know your friend has the journal. He's returned. We want this journal, but you need to cooperate, and no one will get hurt. I'm sure you understand. Simple business and all."

"Yes, simple business," the deeper voice, _Keller,_ purred. "You should be feeling better within twelve hours. From there on, I want you to report to us. We'll get you fed, back in shape, and send you on your way for the next, well, extrapolation." The shudder of pleasure in Keller's voice was impossible to miss.

Silence. Nathan's mind wanted to spin out of control again. He could hardly remember what happened and now these guys were feeding him new thoughts? Footsteps took way, Nathan able to let out a deep breath. At least he could breathe easily. He took great pride in his lungs. He laid there for a long while, slowly trying to ease the tense muscles across his physique. It was very slow going, but everything began to come back to him, mentally and physically. Flynn and Keller's words made sense, but he couldn't believe the bastard had poisoned him. So what if he hadn't eaten sufficiently? He was going to...eventually. But if Sullivan was back, how long had he been asleep? At least the friend had a heads up to what had first happened to the boy.

Nathan finally pushed himself into a sitting position, his muscles tight yet cooperating. He realized he was in khaki cargos, black t-shirt, something similar to what Flynn would wear. Pulling at the neck he slid off the low bed, steadying himself, making his way then to the door. Small bedroom, twin bed, wardrobe with a nightstand, table, and chair. He felt compelled to find Keller, needed to know what was next. _If that's those fucking drugs, I'm…_ But he couldn't finish his thought as he saw the stairwell, simply end of the hall, a giant number two next to the exit door. Looking around, there were only a few other doors, all closed, no signs. If he could go down, find no one, then maybe he could... _go another direction. I'm surprised there's no henchmen up here to guide me._

Shaking his head, he went down the stairs, opening the door at the first two and seeing two guards patrolling. "Drake?" One asked, Nathan nodding. "Follow me."

Third door on the right, a sharp rap before the guard opened the door and Nathan walked in. He saw Keller and Flynn, Keller behind a desk while Flynn was in a chair to the side. "Pretty good time, Mr. Drake. Nine hours." Nathan nodded, staying where he was. "Please, take a seat. We have much to discuss."

Nathan moved towards the empty chair in front of the desk, taking note of the computer, notebook, pens, and other books around, most on a bookcase lining the wall. Nathan thought he caught a few in other languages, but he quickly turned his attention back to Mr. Keller.

"You may be feeling a bit odd right now, but in due time, as I gain your trust, the dosage will be lessened. You were given quite an amount for your condition, and it's going to last for a while until your system is back under control. I've spent my life searching for items all over the world, and I'm quite pleased with the collection. I picked up the little serum concoction back in Laos, of all places. I still send money to the village for helping me out." Mr. Keller chuckled. "Now, I'm trying to expand my knowledge. I'm past your little stage of thievery. I want more. I want new items that are dreams to historians. For starters, I need Hitler's old watercolor collection. It comes with jewels and gold and cash galore, but I want the paintings. I don't care about what history has said about the war and what Hitler wanted to achieve. I just want his stock pile."

Nathan looked at him, silent. "Stuff really does work," Flynn commented quietly. "No witty remarks."

Nathan couldn't think of any though. His mind was like a blank slate, waiting to be filled with ambitions. Keller smiled, a bit darkly. "So Nathan, tell me about that book you have."

"It's...it's..." Nathan chewed his tongue, not wanting to say. "It's, stars, and moons, and some constellations."

"What's special about it? Why does your friend have it right now?"

Nathan bit his tongue again, hard. "It's ahead of its time. The book was written years before the war really took place, before things really went south. They were predicting something. I don't know what though. My friend took it...too..."

" _Don't worry, my friends will patch this up right quick."_

"Fix the book. Wa, water, water damage and such."

"You're lying."

Nathan looked up, unable to keep a straight face as fear began to rise. Keller sat straight, quickly smoothing his dark hair back to the side. Crossing his fingers, he peered at Nathan. Nathan didn't break the gaze, the blue beginning to flow around him.

" _Why did your friend Victor Sullivan take the book with him to Langley, Virginia?"_

Nathan felt the words pulse along him, his heart rate rising. "He, he took the book to have it looked at. Just, that's all I know. Navy people are down there, older, traveled a lot...may, maybe can help translate."

Nathan felt a tear slip out his eye. He bit his tongue again, white knuckles gripping his pants in bold fists. He didn't want to do this anymore. He was breathing hard, suddenly warm. But he couldn't look away from those god damn eyes. Keller saw the tear fall, a satisfied grin creeping wide. "Why are you fascinated with the book? Is it even helpful?"

"It's...old." Nathan scrunched his eyes closed. "We don't know why it is. What's the purpose if the main author could have died before any of these plans were used, even if they weren't thinking of up to ten years out? But what if they _could_ predict that? I don't know if it's helpful. If his friends even bothered to look at it, we won't know until we read it. There's so many languages and the handwriting is emotional, clearly the author was a genius of that era."

Nathan tried keeping his eyes closed but opened them, Keller staring intently at him. He even caught out of his peripheral that Flynn had stopped picking at his nails. Keller began to smile again, showing his teeth. "Flynn, you never let me know that he had such a passion. No one did. I've talked to a few but, this is much deeper than I could have imagined. No wonder you're successful."

Nathan couldn't help but laugh. "Don't go there. I have a good heart."

But no witty remark after. Nathan realized, bit his tongue, and tried closing his eyes again. He couldn't see Sully like this. The man would know in a heartbeat that something was up, and Nathan didn't think he could handle something bad happening to his oldest friend, especially by his hand. "Well, well, well. I want you to bring the book back here. Flynn will accompany you. Then, from here, if the book doesn't prove helpful, where would you go next?"

"Argentina."

"And what are we going to find there?"

"If, and it's a big if. We could find the next clue. We'll probably have to go back to Austria or Germany, but if there's going to be a solid clue, then there's a chance it's going to be down south.

"Interesting. That's where I have a few colleagues investigating right now. But, now that I have you, maybe we all can make a trip down there. So far your reputation is at least holding true. Wonderful. Flynn will take you to get some food, and then you are to bring me the book. Bring your items back here if you can. Otherwise, well, Flynn might share or we'll just pick you up something on the way."

Nathan nodded, his mouth hurting. He wondered if he could make himself choke... _no, I won't get anything that will make me choke. I need vitamins and proteins first._ Flynn stood and Nathan quietly followed him down the hall behind another office door that opened up to a larger room. There were three sets of long tables, each able to seat about eight people. Two smaller tables seating two were off to the side, a small microwave, oven and stove at the edge of a large counter top.

"Make yourself something to eat. There's enough for pasta, sandwiches, rice, pizza, whatever you want." Nathan quietly raided the fridge, hurrying and getting back to the table with a sandwich and some toast with peanut butter. He started chowing down, Flynn looking back at the counter top. "Bloody arse, how could you forget your water?"

Flynn stood up and retrieved it, Nate muttering "Thank you."

"That's it, no other comments? What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Nathan shook his head. "Oh boy, Jesus mate. The English language is open to me now. What do I get to say first? You shoot like a gorilla? You fight like a stick in the mud? You're dumber than a misdirected river? You empty head is worse than a goldfish?" Nathan sat there, quietly, not knowing what to say back as the man just laughed, leaning back in his chair. "Okay, if it's that easy, then I'll try to keep my comments to myself. But, wow your spirit has been wiped. Good thing we have your brain."

Nathan finished, following Flynn outside. "Hop in the back, I'll take you to get that book. I'll stay in the hall. You and your friend can have your fun, but if it takes too long, I'm going to join the game and it won't be so much fun after that. Clear?"

"Crystal," Nathan said, biting down on his tongue as he silently watched out the window, trying to remember the directions. Some of it looked familiar, but he couldn't grasp onto anything longer than a few moments. _If I can't even focus, how am I supposed to help them figure this all out? Or are they just going to get rid of me at the end? I can do this... I have to. I need to get out... of this car. It's a little bit suffocating. I need fresh air._ The colors began again, slowly pulsing along his vision. The street signs smeared, unreadable. "You...my water...what did you do?" he breathed out, not wanting his vision to start spinning again.

"Sorry pal, we don't know how quickly the stuff is going to wear off of you. You've been under it for about three days now, so it's due time. The food in the next half hour will help calm you back down. Judging by how you were able to try lying to Keller means it was starting to fade. And I can't have you fading on us in the middle of this. I'd rather you be tripping and on my side, listening to what I tell you to do."

Nathan didn't say anything, closing his eyes as he felt himself slip from possession of his body. He was along for the ride, and at the moment breathing seemed to be all he could do. Finally he felt the car stop and a door open, Nathan trying to grab the handle to his. As soon as he got it, it was pulled open, Nathan looking up at Flynn. _"Let's go get that book, shall we? You're the master, you know where it is and what to do to get it."_

Like a job...he could do this. Easy. If he could stand. The sun was beginning to set, the two carefully walking up to Nathan's scummy motel, heading towards the fourth floor. They kept to the elevator since Nate couldn't walk the stairs, his vision starting to straighten out. "Why...why affect me so much with the stuff?"

"Because, that's how much we need you. How much Keller needs you. I can do it, but you...you're faster. I can't say if I trust the stuff, especially with seeing your two reactions to it, but after this we should be able to ease up a little."

Nathan made it to his room, Flynn standing off to the side, listening. Nathan opened the door, Sullivan at the window smoking his cigar. The older man turned, grinning as soon as he saw Nate, but the smile soon fell. "Boy, what's wrong? Nathan, what happened?"

Nathan shook his head, smearing the colors, Sully's blue and white shirt distracting the most. "You have the book?"

"Yeah, in my suitcase. Nathan, what's wrong? What happened? The room was a wreck when I got back. What happened?"

Nathan looked at Sully, unable to say anything. The most he could think of was tapping right under his eye, then ran his hand through his hair and gripped it. That's all his mind would let him do. "Please, I need the book."

"Now that's a no go, Nate. You're not in a right set of mind, and I won't let you have it."

"Something, important then?"

He gripped his head as Sully spun quickly, the shirt trying to make him sick. He breathed out, not wanting anything bad to happen. No response meant yes. "Nathan, who else is here with you? You couldn't have made it here in this condition by yourself."

"I guess that's my cue," Flynn drawled, stepping into the room. "Victor! So good to see you again. I'm glad to see that you're almost as old as your cigars now." He stepped next to Nate. "Darling, would you mind fetching that dirty book you've so eagerly told us about?" Flynn's tone was thoroughly enjoying this.

"No, Nathan, stay right there." Nathan looked at Sully and continued moving towards the man's suitcase, Sully putting his arm on Nate. Nate quickly spun, switching his grip on Sullivan. He was about to slam his arm down on his elder's, but stopped himself. Flynn walked up and grabbed Sully's shoulder, pulling him back. "Nathan, what are you doing?"

"He's a bit preoccupied right now. We're trying to make this easy on all of us, with as little ruckus as possible. My little sugar plum is being a great assistant, and I'd hate to have to break his concentration and make him do something he'd end up regretting. So, we're taking this book, thank you for your cooperation, and we hope to be working with you again soon. As long as our little pet does his job, he will return in safe condition, all hoity-toity, mouthy little brat that he is."

Nathan only grabbed the book, seeing his duffle bag and remembering he needed clothes. He picked it up, walking back over to Flynn. The corners of his vision were shaky, another tear slipping out. Sully was standing by the window, arms at his side, face completely lost. "Why? Why are you doing this?" His voice cracked, causing another tear to escape from Nathan, having to turn away from Sully.

"We're making him," Flynn responded. "Leave it at that."

Nathan walked out of the room, steadying his vision as he felt like he was tipping. Suddenly he was leaning against the wall, sliding down. His vision sparked, his brain freaking out. His inner voice was screaming, screaming so loud, but unable to say anything. He couldn't. He couldn't calm his body down normally.

" _What the hell did you do to him!"_

 _I'm trapped...come on, help me..._ There were two quick crashes, three grunts... he almost didn't care who helped him now. Sully was safer... _I don't want to hurt him. What am I going to do? What's going to happen?_ A strong image of Keller came to his mind, his body beginning to stir. He pushed himself up the wall, just trying to take steps to the stairway. No way he could handle to motion of an elevator, and the stairway at least bought him time to collect himself. He pressed hard against the wall, footsteps soon coming up behind him. "Where are you going?"

He was slightly upset it was Flynn. "Stairs. We good?"

Flynn took the bag from his shoulder and the book from his hand. "We're good. Don't worry, he's not hurt. Not too badly, at least. He'll be slow for maybe a day. At least the man still has his strength, I'm sure from palling around with you, eh?"

"Yeah, yeah sure."

He managed his way slowly down the stairs, every flight regretting his choice, until he thought of the jolting of the elevator and how his stomach was already twisting and contorting. The middle of each flight was much more bearable. Slowly they made it out to the car, Nate climbing into the back and laying down across the seats as Flynn tossed the stuff onto the passenger seat. "How are you holding up?"

Nathan couldn't help himself. He gave a slight growl into the seat, but was left panting after a sudden turn twisted his stomach. "I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't like this."

His brain seemed stuck. It was the only thing he thought he could say, aloud, to get his point across of how trapped he was internally. After maybe a mile, Flynn pulled the car over, quickly coming to Nathan and opening the door, lifting him up and peering into his eyes with a flashlight. "Bugger, things better be normal."

Nathan kept closing his eyes, playing a childish battle against having his eyes checked. He was sure Flynn was checking color and dilation. Maybe even response time. But the light was damn bright. Almost infuriating. He just wanted to lay back, control the sudden exhaustion, waves, and lightheadedness. "Go away, I don't like this!" He yelled one more time, mustering the strength to kick Flynn away. It was weak, but it got the point through.

"Your eyes are still blue, not bloodshot or yellow. That's a good start." Flynn went back to the driver's seat and Nathan relaxed once more, breathing steady, the car taking off. He was quiet the whole way, no other word being said from the blonde either. They parked the car in the garage, once again, Flynn beating Nathan to opening the door handle. "And you still have no comments to say. I almost feel bad for you."

Nathan dragged himself up to his room with Flynn's help, eyes landing straight on the bed. He noticed the moon was shining through the open blinds, giving him a little bit of relaxation. He hated how sleepy the drug made him, but maybe he'd at least get back on a normal day shift after tonight. He dumped his duffle bag, kicked off his shoes, and fell onto the bed. His vision and stomach had quit spinning, his mind was quiet, his body wasn't on high alert… He could get used to this...maybe...

He slipped off, hoping he never woke again, but hoping he woke back up in the same room as Sully, being told this was all a bad dream.

~~/\/\/\/\

Finally the boat docked, Nathan and Sullivan eager to gain their land legs back. They had made decent progress on the book, but it was all they could do. To actually finish the book, Sully had to contact some friends. And they weren't too keen on him coming back to the area. "So...your plane..."

"It's across this magnificent island. Let's go buy some cigars, make some friends, then we'll hit the road. I'm sure I smell like that nasty boat. A proper shower would be nice."

"Fine. Spend the night, move out in the morning. That's fine.

Sully led him to the closest hotel, getting a room for them, with Sully being the first to claim the shower. Nathan laid back on the actual bed, his muscles beginning to cry in relief. "Not yet," he muttered, sitting back up and pulling his bag close to try to find something moderately clean to wear. "Maybe this place has laundry services too. That'd be nice for once."

Nate began stretching his muscles again, hopping around to keep his energy up. It was nice being on solid ground. The book gave them just a few more clues to work with, which was a relief. Soon enough Sully was emerging from the bathroom, Nathan happily hopping in after. The boat had been quite dirty, and didn't offer showers. _When you're all scumbags traveling quietly from one country to another, you gotta take what you can get._

A nice clean up and towel after, Nathan felt ready to hit the town. Nathan planned on hopefully a few magic tricks to earn them some cash, and hope that they could make it back to America. "What do you think this town has in store?"

"Being that everything is cozy and a bit historic, I'd say it's going to be a good evening. We can relax, enjoy a few drinks, and then head back. What are you so worried about?"

"There's a few things…"

Nathan watched the streets around them, not too many people looking towards their direction. No one would look twice at another white family, even if they spoke American. As long as English slang wasn't a problem, neither were the foreigners. Sully clapped his hands together at the first tobacco shop they came too, a few minutes later coming out with a new set of cigars, a case, and more fuel for the zippo. Nathan chuckled as they continued to the bar, sitting at a table and ordering some actual food and drinks. Nathan looked around, seeming to be mostly locals. He relaxed. Hop on a train, take it down south, get Sully's plane, head back to the states. Sully and he enjoyed the dull voices around him, Nathan taking in the wooden walls, posters of old English musicians, a corner even dedicated to the Beatles.

Their server brought their food, tall guy, quiet voice, said to let him know if they needed anything else, before heading away and chitchatting with some other regulars. "I like this place. Burgers aren't bad."

"It's nice not having to look over your back every five minutes," Sully murmured in agreement. They quietly finished their meals, paying and deciding to take a walk around. They found the train station and bought their tickets for the next morning, and walked around the old city, Nathan enjoying the old buildings, finding his way into a museum. He looked around all the sailor items, looking for anything that might have been Sir Francis Drake's. Next were the World Wars, wondering if there was any other information he might be able to use for the book.

They had a few paintings from around the time Hitler was in charge, but nothing that he had made himself. He carefully evaluated them, looking for any hints of something. The frames were basic, the art was basic, Hitler didn't have anything encoded on his arms or sleeves... "What a waste," he muttered, turning around and seeing a man behind him.

"These painting's aren't a waste," he commented, voice a bit deeper, hair shaved to his scalp. His accent was thick, Nathan suddenly feeling awkward.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult. I'm just looking for something specific, and it's not here."

Nathan thought he caught a quick glint of curiosity in the man's eye. "Looking for something? Maybe I can help. Name's Charles Cutter. Friends call me Charlie."

"Nathan Drake. We're just in town for the night. Doing some research on Hitler over here, or, World War two type of things. We were just wondering if the museum might have had an item or something that would give a bit more insight to his mind or teachings."

"Teachings...right... Well, there's a few items around, the most interesting is a small watercolor that he supposedly did back when he was trying to get in school. People bicker, but I think he painted it."

Nathan followed the equally broad man, although Cutter had a few inches on him. Around a corner it was in a glass case, a gold plate underneath reading _"Sternklar, January 3_ _rd_ _, 1930"_

"Wait, he wasn't in school though in 1930." Nathan looked at Cutter and saw a small smile across his face. "This is when he was just starting to promote the Nazi party. Like, maybe this was just... What does _sternklar_ mean?"

"Starlit," Sully responded, coming over. "I could hear you across the place. Use your inside voice."

"Sorry. Sully, this is Charlie Cutter. He walked me over here."

"Charlie, Victor Sullivan," Sully said, shaking his hand. "What's your fascination with Hitler?" he asked the Brit, Charlie having a small grin on his face.

"Well, as more from history keeps coming up, more things are changing. More hints, like this painting, suggests that this possibly something he did in the off time to calm down. Or maybe he did continue his art classes through a private teacher."

Nathan looked at Sully. "Starlit... Like..." Sully nodded slowly, Nate hoping he could see where Nate was going with this. Nathan turned back to the painting, watching how the water colors blended in, the blues and whites, little red, forming just a forest at night, the moon and clouds shining on the ground. Little tendrils of wind were blowing through the grass, even small sketch lines still visible in the blue. "Oh my god Sully!" Cutter looked taken aback for a moment with Nate's sudden realization. Even a few people turned their heads, two ladies and a guard giving him a dirty look. "There's ah, a, a giant bug in the corner, yeah," Nathan scratched his head, pointing randomly to the corner of the hall.

"What the hell Nate?"

"Look, look closely at the painting...the moon, trees, the wind, per chance?"

Sully went and looked closer at the painting, a finger tapping his lips. "Well would you look at that. Now what type of project was going on after this?"

"Gents, please, about the vagueness of this situation, I'm a bit of a historian, and I like to dapple in all areas. What can I tell you about this one?"

"Where was it found? I've seen this before, kind of, but it was drawn by someone else. I think." Nathan quickly ran his fingers through his hair, looking back at the painting in resistance to pulling out the journal from his satchel.

"It was donated, actually. I believe from Austria. Couldn't tell you where else though. Kind of cryptic, we had a huge opening when it came to the painting, because if it was Hitler himself...well, there must be more somewhere."

"There is. Or, well, we believe there are more. Just the where is the question. Well, excellent. Any other pieces around here?"

Cutter showed them a few more items, Nathan pleased that there was a little bit of something in the museum. Nothing worth stealing, but a good little insight in what to look for. Cutter left them his number, saying to give a call if they needed more information. "I mean, we're across countries and all, but you chaps seem pleasant. I tend to dive into other realms of expertise if you need anything."

Nathan smiled. "So do we. Thank you for your help. It's a pleasure to meet you. Hopefully we get in touch soon."

They separated ways, Nate and Sully wandering towards the harbor, enjoying the afternoon sunlight. "Well, we still have the rest of the day to kill. What do you have in mind?" Sully asked, Nathan already pondering.

"What are the chances? What are the chances that he heard my offhand comment, and then boom, can show me a freaking painting that we have a sketch of? In a mystery book of all places! Okay, well maybe that's not as much as a surprise, but still! Which came first? The painting or the sketch? The book or the painting? Now where do we look from here? This is only creating more questions."

"Think of the solution, not the problem. Who cares that there's a painting and a sketch? Now we know there's two. Excellent. That may actually help us, but hey, if we have any questions, just look at the book. We carry on like normal, and we plan the next step after we get to the states. We have a plan right now, and we're following it. None of your improvising crap."

"We'll just come to that later."

"Not if I can help it," Sully muttered, lighting a cigar.

They stood there for a while, taking in the sights and the fresh air. Hearing the voices around Nathan was enough to relax him, glad people had normal lives to carry on and no idea what they dealt with every day. Granted, Nathan never saw himself leading a normal life. He wanted those 'great things,' and he didn't care what it took to get a taste of those magnificent wonders of the world from past explorers. Nate and Sully finally went to a store, picking up some supplies for the train ride and flight. Another day or two, and they would be back in the states. Nathan felt his shoulders relax, enjoying the extraordinary, normal day.

* * *

Enjoy, it's definitely one of my favorites.  
So i kinda bit off a lot more than i realized, and i need to do more research. This all was a topic i randomly caught bits on off the internet and school. Well, low and behold, apparently the end of 2016 is Hitler Awareness. I have some shows recorded ABOUT THIS SPECIFICALLY YAY! and I need to do a little bit of notes for the straight continuance of the next chapters to really build on. Not my normal writings, but, i want to keep these characters in character as much as possible. I love ALL OF THEM AND I'D HATE TO FUCK IT UP.

This matters a lot to me, so i'm hoping as i watch these shows, to be able to bust out the next five chapters (with probably a bit of struggle) in a timely manner. Although, anyone a fan of assassin's creed? Been noticing some weird hair-pulling things about their games and the uncharted series. That's also tripping me up about this story. Especially cus Nolan North is some staged voice for Desmond Miles, and then busts out as Nathan Drake... Kinda same personality, i like his Desmond role cus he cusses in ways Drake doesn't...but then, it's Nathan Drake and he freaking NAILS it.

K. Have a good night. This is way to long but where i'm trying to stay organized.


	4. Before the Branch Snaps

**Chapter 4**

Nathan slowly stirred, groaning, laying still for a few more minutes, trying to assess how he felt. His mind was fuzzy, his stomach hurt, and his muscles were tight. He vaguely recalled being with Flynn...Sully...Keller... He sat up and looked around, the room small but supplied. His duffle bag was at the base of a table, his clothes sitting on the table folded and washed. He saw a bathroom, deciding to take a shower. He looked through the pile, surprised he had most of his clothes. He grabbed a set, and took off for the shower, scoping his ribs as soon as he could look in the mirror. The wound was healing nicely, definitely another scar though. Another few days and the stitches could come out. He grabbed the little bottles of shampoo and soap, jumping in.

When he came out, towel drying his hair, he paused when he saw Flynn in the chair. He didn't say anything, his thoughts trying to flicker, _babysitter_ popping up. "How are you feeling today?" Flynn asked, Nathan picking up a hint of empathy.

"I'm better, I guess. How are you?"

Flynn just looked at him, finally standing up. "I'm wonderful. Are you ready to go talk to Keller?" Nathan shook his head, catching himself. Wide-eyed, he looked back at Flynn, beginning to remember why Flynn had given him a new batch of the serum. "I wish you hadn't done that mate. Hold still."

Nathan felt his muscles lock, his mind battling over listening to Flynn and pushing him away. He needed to listen, cooperate, go talk to Keller...but… Flynn tried sitting him on the bed, Nathan resisting physically. "I can't Flynn, no more!"

"I know pal, I know. But you have too. Just for a little longer. This dose is much less, like we promised. Just take it, let's go talk to Keller, and then we'll get some food and talk. Sound good?" Nathan shook his head, Flynn able to sit him on the bed, pulling his arm straight. Nathan tried relaxing, but his true mentality wanted to come out. He wanted to call Flynn a snake, traitor, worthless mercenary, not even a common ground treasure hunter... "Easy now... There we go. See? Now we're done. We'll wait a few minutes for it to kick in. If you have anything you'd like to say or ask, I suggest you do it now."

"Why Flynn? Why the hell are you doing this? Why are you helping him and tormenting me? I don't like this!"

"I know, I know you don't like it. I'm doing this for Keller, and myself I suppose. I'm getting a nice cut of the riches, and this time I have a good feeling about it. You're a worthy person to work with besides your damn attitude, and take that away, get you focused, like I said, you're fast. At this point, we need fast and efficient. Keller's done playing the run around."

Nathan only nodded, feeling his muscles tingle. "I know I'm fast, but drugging me isn't the answer!"

"That's the way we have to play it. These are the bad guys. The rich bad guys, and we can cut you a nice portion of the profits. You can even share some with Sullivan as an inconvenience for us snagging you. This is better in the long run. No one gets hurt, and everyone wins. All right?"

Nathan felt himself begin to disassociate again. "All right," he muttered, Flynn smiling and standing back up.

"Excellent! Time for boss man."

Nathan slid on his socks and boots, following Flynn to the office. He felt himself beginning to slip, the walls of the hall beginning to pulse, seeming to pull him to Flynn and the room. Flynn finally stopped walking, knocked on a door, entering a moment later, Nathan feeling the sun splash over him from the window. He blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to the brightness.

"Please Nathan, have a seat."

Nathan sat across from the dark haired man, avoiding his eyes, remembering last time. "How are you Nathan?"

"I'm fine," he answered, keeping his eyes down.

"So, that book you found... It's quite interesting. Especially how far you went to have it translated. Sorry it's in my possession now."

"I can't help you with it though if you don't let me read it. Sully figured out the rest of it."

A deep, soft chuckle. "Don't worry Nathan, you'll have a chance once we finish finding the meanings behind the book. So, what do we do from here?"

Nathan risked glancing up, caught a bit of the sunlit snow storm swirling in the eyes. He stared, feeling distorted again. "What...what do you mean?"

He kept his eyes straight, Keller's blue beginning to spiral out, little flecks catching bits of the sun. Keller leaned forward. "I think we need to move onto the next stage, where we're going to need your help with the books, so you're going to have to start reading and looking for clues. What I need for you to do, is tell me everything you know about Hitler, and where you think we're going to have to go afterwards. You lightly touched base with it last time, but now I want the full explanation."

Nathan stared at him, seeing Flynn lean forward out of the corner of his eye. Nathan tried looking around, but the colors hurt his eyes. _"Look at me Nathan. Tell me what I need to know."_

"Ahh, aaahhh, it started...a while ago, really. Just research. Didn't put anything into motion until about three or four weeks ago..."

Nathan couldn't look away from Keller as he explained their journey, the time frame hard, based off he still didn't know what day it was. He felt tears try to leak from his eyes, finally succeeding when he mentioned the painting that was shown to them while in England. He mentioned Cutter's name, catching a small grin crossing the man's face. Nathan had to pause, his heart pounding, a small river coursing his left cheek.

 _"Mr. Flynn, please, another dosage if you will. Add half of a part of saline to the syringe. He needs just a little more. This emotion needs to go."_

 _"Yes sir."_

Nathan sat there, breathing hard, unable to keep track of his heart rate. He heard Keller stand up from the desk, his hands slowly sliding around the silky wood. _"Now, now, Mr. Drake. Just calm down. You were doing so well, but I have don't have much patience. You've pushed my buttons long enough, and I have about ten minutes of free reign with you before Flynn comes back. He doesn't know my full extent while working with the serum. Trust me, you're not my first patient."_

Keller walked around the window, shutting the blinds, then having another curtain to drop over, submerging the room in darkness. Nathan felt his fear spike, a slow laughter beginning to rise from across the room. _"What are you scared of, Drake? What really makes your heart beat?"_

A light flashed to his right, Nathan quickly whipping his head as the ball of light seemed to bounce across the room. It disappeared, Nathan feeling trapped, hands gripping the edge of the chair tight. Another light flashed directly in front of him, then back on and off multiple times. Nathan tried bringing his hand up, but something held it down. _"No, no, no Mr. Drake. Keep your hands down. Do you hear me?"_ Nathan nodded, his heart racing. " _Good, good. Do you see me?"_ Nathan shook his head. _"Are you scared of me? What I can do?"_ Suddenly the flashing stopped, little remnants in Nate's vision flying in all directions. _"Do you remember where you are?"_

"An...an office," He replied faintly.

 _"How sure of that are you? Are you sure you're not someplace a bit more scary, trapped down in a cell, no lights, no food, not even a bathroom? Nothing more than the little rats pricking at your toes..."_

Nathan thought of the cell, felt himself being thrown…. The floor was cold, he couldn't see anything. Suddenly the voice stopped. "Where...where are you?" he called out. "Who are you?" He slowly moved around, feeling a smooth wall. He tripped, falling back onto the floor onto something wet and patchy. He quickly stood back up, panting harder. His balance seemed skewed, causing him to topple over again. "Why am I here? Let me out!"

 _"No, Nathan... You will never be free."_

Nathan sat up, afraid to move. He felt something at his ankle, causing him to kick, another few pricks at his other ankle, rising up his legs, next biting at his hands. He yelled, trying to reach around and caught a bit of something. Maybe he caught one of the rats nipping at him. Something began laughing, ever so slightly close to his ear, maybe behind him. _"You are going to remember this lesson in the dark. I will torment you for hours. I look forward to it, if you cross me. You have done well so far, and I hope we continue down this path. You are my pet, and your emotions need to be cut off. Every time a tear slips, think of a rat biting at your finger, at your toe, and that tear better stop. Do you understand?"_

Nathan nodded, quick pricks again in his fingers, Nathan responding aloud. "Yes, yes, I understand. Let me go!"

The pricks faded and the blinds began to rise, Nathan panting as he looked around, realizing he was in the office still, never once actually being in the prison cell. Once the blinds were raised, he recognized Keller. "How…did you do that?" He asked, Keller gesturing towards the chair in front of him.

Twirling a short knife between his fingers, the dark haired man only nodded. Nathan tried calming his breathing, sweat dripping down the back of his neck, mouth dry. The door opened, Nathan giving a short yell as Flynn returned, walking over and quickly giving Nathan the shot.

"Carry on," Flynn said, carefully looking Nathan over, noticing the change in demeanor.

"Charles Cutter. Please, continue on."

Nathan didn't remember giving Keller the man's full name. "Yeah, he, explained the painting. Would like to talk sometime. Gave me his number..." Nathan explained the rest of the trip, the drugs beginning to kick in again threefold. He tried not to lose focus, little pricks at his finger and toes. He kept his eyes matched with Keller, soon coming to, "and that's when you first reached out to me."

"Hmmm..." Keller turned around on the chair, Nathan able to let out his breath, flexing and stretching his hands. "What is it with you and artifacts? If it's in a museum, it's to stay there. A bit greedy, don't you think? Taking something for yourself, when it's meant for the public eye?"

"I'm only fascinated with clues. The items had dates that the museum displayed incorrectly. The photo even has a date on it, and the museum said it was three years after it really was taken, and the swastika was five years before what the museum claims. They're trying to make Hitler look worse than he is. He's a horrible person, but history has it wrong."

"You're so fascinating, Drake. I like it. I like you. This is helpful. Here, Flynn and I are chasing our tails like dogs, and you manage to compare a painting, and steal from a museum over a quarter of the world away. Look at you. And you still feel Argentina is the next stop?"

"After I read the book."

A hand slapped on the table, Nathan flinching, bringing his hands up. _"Do you feel Argentina is the next stop?"_

Nathan carefully brought his hands down, the blue piercing his thoughts, filling his vision as heat rolled over him again. He didn't know. Pin pricks started up his fingers again, Nathan's breathing increasing, dimly hearing something off to the side. A grunt and a slam startled Nathan, the brunette tipping backwards, scrambling from the fallen chair, reaching the wall, Keller's eyes still trapping his attention. The man was furious, slowly making his way closer to Nathan, pausing for a second before striking Nathan across his face, his head hitting the wall hard. He looked back up as a hand wrapped around his neck, the grip constricting. _"I said, do you feel Argentina is the next stop?!"_

"No! No I don't!" The hand only tightened, Nathan beginning to lose oxygen, his heart beating out of control, he felt pinpricks traveling up his hands and toes, trying not to let the tears fall out, flashing back and forth between the office and the prison.

 _"Get off of him!"_ Suddenly the hand was removed, Nathan scrambling away as he tried to catch his breath.

He was stuck. Trapped in a room with two madmen. He tried to bring his emotions back under control, calm his breathing down. He could keep his head straight. Or try to. _Solution, not the problem._ Suddenly Flynn was in front of him, holding out a hand, Nathan standing up. "Why do you think we shouldn't go to Argentina next?" he asked, Nathan flicking his eyes back to Keller, who had smoothed his hair back down.

"Be, because I don't think the right clues are there. I think there's information there, but not pointing to where we should go next. I have nothing to work with right now. If there's anything, maybe it will be back in Germany, Spain, Denmark, somewhere else! But maybe not. I could be wrong, but I think Argentina is just a waste of money."

Flynn nodded, grabbing Nathan's arm. "Come on, let's go get you some food then. We're done."

Jumpy, they left the room, Nathan's vision a little bit more even. Even with the last dose, he wasn't tripping as bad as he had been. "What did he say to you when I was gone?" Flynn asked quietly, once they were towards the food area. Nathan kept quiet, thinking of another sandwich. "Nathan, what did he say?"

"He doesn't want you to know."

"God damn it Nate, tell me what he did." Nathan lifted his eyes, seeing the green, feeling drawn towards them. "Clearly he's fucking with you. Playing mind games with you. What did he say?"

Nathan looked back down, gritting his teeth. "He reminded me of a place long ago. Somewhere that caused too many fatalities."

"Yeah, care to elaborate?"

"Solitary. Rats. Tears... All to get a stupid piece of wood that sent my partner and I nowhere." Nathan rubbed his hands, Flynn stopping his lead and grabbing the hands, Nathan risking a glance up. Flynn looked like he was trying to be empathetic.

"Look mate, we're not anywhere near there right now. We're here, in this stupid building. Getting some food. He was just using a scare tactic on you. Did he make the room dark or anything?" Nathan nodded. Flynn gave Nathan a quick pat on the back of the hand. "Then maybe he was just recreating the image to assert his authority over you. Did it feel like any of the 'rats' were biting or something? I saw the spilled water on the carpet."

Nathan ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, there was that." He turned away from Flynn, staring at the baseboards of the wall. He needed to be outside and doing something.

"So, he probably used something to imitate rats biting you. I saw his knife on his desk. He put you in a vulnerable state of mind, had me fetch the concoction that clearly wasn't needed, and then I sealed the deal for his psychosis over you when I came back." Nathan turned back, Flynn walking the rest of the way to the meal room. When they arrived, Flynn headed straight towards the couches. "Make your lunch, I'll be watching the tele when you're done."

Nathan made his lunch, same as last time, eating quickly. Flynn approached him as he washed the dishes off. "All right lad, since you just ate, let's go for a nice walk in the park, take a stroll around the pond, then hit the gym to get the strength back up. Can't have you becoming weaker now."

Nathan slowly nodded, wondering if there really was a park on the property with a pond. Catching Nathan's look, Flynn smiled, Nathan able to question, "are you serious?"

"No, Poppy. Though there is a decent area that is good for stretching."

Nathan followed Flynn's lead, taking a few laps around what seemed the back and side of the building, short pine trees lining the parameter, grass and a small pathway being any decoration. The walk was quiet, Nathan using the time to organize his thoughts and really beginning to see the extent of what he was going to have to do. After about twenty minutes, Flynn led him to the gym, Nathan able to change into workout clothes, and started to put himself back together.

He found a style and routine that worked for him, his muscles beginning to loosen up and his head to clear. He momentarily forgot about everything, Flynn finally tapping on his shoulder, showering once more before getting ready to go into the city. "Boss has an assignment for us, and I want to see how well you perform." Nathan simply nodded, keeping his mouth shut. He was feeling more like his old self, and didn't want to be injected with that drug again.

Within an hour they were cruising to the outskirts of the town, Nathan silent as he looked out the windows. "How you feeling, mate? Any tossing of the stomach?"

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"Just as joyful as a young lad on Christmas." The comments cut there, Nate discreetly content knowing Flynn wasn't stoked about the assignment either.

Within another twenty minutes of exiting the town, they pulled up to a small house on the edge of a farm, Flynn motioning for Nathan to come too. They walked up, the house's white paint peeling and chipping, the porch railing wobbling in the breeze. Faded maroon edged the bay window and the doorway as well. The screen door was rickety, seeming to groan on the hinges in tune with the boards under their feet. The simple four steps up seemed like it was ready to fall apart. Flynn gingerly rapped on the door, within a moment an old man appearing. "You lost?" he asked, voice raspy, but light.

"Ah, no sir," Flynn started, the man already turning, Nathan assuming from his accent.

"We're here to ask you some questions." Nathan hoped his lighter, American tone helped bring the man back around.

"Questions? Like what?"

"Well, you were in World War Two, correct?"

The man stared hard at Nathan, then turning to Flynn. "What's it to you?"

"We just have a few questions. We're trying to straighten out a few bits of history, but, we're missing some pieces," Flynn began again. "We were hoping you can help us out."

 _Christ. Flynn doing public collection work. Keller must be paying him a generous amount._

"An American and a bloke, eh? Well, fine, make it snappy, come on in. Sit down, in the living room."

Flynn looked at Nathan, Nathan unable to read his face. "I'll improvise if I have to, but I don't know why we're here," Nathan muttered close to Flynn as they crossed through the door.

"Leave it to me, Beaver."

"Did you...really? Really? That reference of all things?"

Flynn looked straight at him, eyes growing curious. "What's it to you? Do my mannerisms...upset you princess?"

"No, not at all. Just...ask your questions and get out of here."

Nathan sat quietly, letting Flynn talk with the man. He piped up every now and again, but with small things, not wanting to be held down and poked when they returned to the hideout lair. Flynn mainly questioned about the war, where he was stationed, what division and rescuing he was able to do, where was he when Hitler passed, where his wife was stationed, how she passed, did he have any personals from Hitler, the war in general, what cities or camps specifically, it seemed like the twenty questions never ended.

The man was gruff but polite about every answer. He took the question about his wife the hardest, but answered. "Haven't been married since. We was twenty-six back then. It was long, hard, she was the only one that wrapped her hands around my heart. And let me tell you, those nurses, hot damn of some gals. But not my Dani Mae. She was my everything."

Finally, Nathan coming out with a set of new information, hoping Flynn received what he wanted, they started traveling back to town, Flynn locking the doors. Nathan looked at him, curious. "Mate, I know you're sober, or just about. I would like some warning before you leap out of the car to find your way back to your friend. I'm glad you're feeling back to normal, but, you know."

"Not yet. Come on, I'm not going to bail or anything."

"That's just it though. You're bloody magic! The shit you pull off—your improvising, playing nice with people, even your damn jokes! You're flawless. So, no, I don't trust you with the damn door and you're getting your shot when you get back. I shouldn't have even let you go this long without another dose but I was curious what your system is getting used to."

"What, you think I'm becoming used to it?" _I've never done anything in my life beside drink. So, great, I'm getting used to a damn mind control drug._

"Maybe. I like to look at it as immune. After the reactions that you've had with the doses I've given you—poisoning you, I think your body reacted much quicker to the 'virus' that was suddenly in your system. So no, I don't think it's going to take very long for you to overcome it before we end up accidentally killing you."

"Well, since you've almost succeeded once before, at least you know where the bar is now."

"Look, that was an accident. Things have been fair I suppose between us," Flynn was carefully picking his words, Nathan peering over at him. "I'm just saying this whole ordeal could have been avoided if you had routines like a normal person."

"I was caught up in research. Things happen."

Flynn let out a sigh, the two sitting quietly until they were getting close, Flynn taking a deep breath. "So, before Keller notices anything different, I'm going to give you your dose, leave you in your room, try to get you a few books after I fill Keller in, and then we'll have some dinner, and call it a night. How does that sound sweetheart?"

"Whatever you say, Ninny."

"Fine. Fine. Fine, but I'm doing the best that I can with what I've got. Sorry things aren't up to your standards. Have a bit of patience, dip a little bit of tolerance into the cuppa and we'll be good as gold."

Nathan stared at the large, grey, four story building, lights on in various windows. Flynn parked and they walked through the door, two guards opening the doors for them. Flynn led Nathan to another hallway, opening a door that instantly smelled of cleaner. As soon as Nathan shut the door, Flynn looked at him, crossing his arms. "Look, I don't care for the type of person you are. You're a selfish yank that only wants that extra dollar for himself. You don't care what happens or who you screw over. Just wishy-washy oops! For you. As much as I love seeing Keller have his way with you, it's also not fair. Sober yes, drugged, no. You could have run at any time, but the fact that you haven't means something too. So because of that, you're going to cooperate, take the damn shot, and we'll see again about tomorrow."

Nathan watched him make the serum, not thrilled with the goopy stuff from the vial mixing with the saline and other solution. Flynn measured out ten milliliters, the stuff entered and disposed of, Flynn was leading him to his room. Nathan still couldn't grasp the layout of the building. It was always turn here, turn there, left, left, another right, then another left or something. Flynn opened the door, Nathan entering, seeing a stack of books on the table next to his clothes. He walked over, the drugs beginning to flow through his mind.

 _Please, put your clothes away. We don't house animals. Talk to Mr. Flynn if you require more of anything else. Here are some of the books I mentioned earlier. Certain pages are highlighted, but do what you will._

Nathan flipped through the books, none being anything he's heard of. Mind beginning to break apart though, he fell onto his bed, listening to how his body was reacting to the drug. He wasn't happy about it, but Sully was safe, Flynn had a bit of pity on him, which made Keller the biggest opposition.

~~/\/\/\

Nathan sat next to the window, watching the trees flash by, cities, hills, all of the last week fading behind. They were only a few hours away from Sully's plane. Finally. He was somewhat relaxed, knowing from here it was going to be easy. Get the book translated, sort out their notes, do a little research, maybe even give Cutter a call and see what he could do to help. Nathan glanced at Sully, seeing a book in his hand that he had picked up at the station. Even though everything looked like it was on track for once, he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong, that they got away too easily.

"Relax, kid, we're fine. I know you're getting antsy, but you did just as well getting out to the spot, now we're almost back. Calm down."

"What do you mean? I am relaxed."

Sully actually looked at him, head slightly tilting to the left. "Then why do you keep constantly looking around, counting the chairs, the lights, the squares on the floor, everything? Relax. We're almost to Bristol. You can go run around in a park or something when we get off, but you need to hold tight until then."

"I am relaxed..."

Nathan dug through his bag, picking the book back out, more so for the pictures. He took his journal out, copying some of the sketches into the book, with coordinates and words. The biggest question was where to go after the journal was translated. There are so many countries that Hitler and the Nazi regime had graced with their presence. And where there weren't Germans there were Sovieta. "We need a map," he muttered, listing off the countries he could remember down the side of a page.

"Why's that?"

"Where do you think the next clue would be? We can't be running all over to find this thing. We can't afford that. Hell, we can afford maybe one or two more runs and that's it. I don't want to get screwed over in this."

"Well, there's the stories about some cities in Argentina, but you're right. We can't afford to run all over. I think the book is going to give us the next big clue, and we can cross to that country. I'm sticking with Argentina or Spain."

"Not in Germany though?"

"There can be a few spots, but Berlin was cleaned pretty thoroughly of the Nazi paraphernalia. Anything related to that time was tossed or hidden. Maybe in the jungles of South America, around Argentina and Columbia, and there were some ties to Spain."

"See? We need a map. Those two countries are no where near each other." Nathan tapped his pencil, finally admitting to himself that he was antsy. This was going to be a big deal if they could pull it off. Really, they needed too, so they could pay their bills. _Thank god for credit cards. And actually owning my little apartment._ Nathan laid his head down on his arms, listening to the soft rumble of the train. Not a lot of people were onboard with them, which was nice. _Where are we going with this? How much more time is this going to take? I want to go to Europe. Heading back to the States is a waste of time, but we need it. Can't bribe a translator enough to keep their mouth shut from a sixty year old book._ Nathan sat back up, looking back out the window, frustrated.

He finally settled on laying down on the bench, relaxing, drifting off, using an image of the Sir Francis's ring to calm him. He slipped off, remembering when he first found the ring, all the way back in Cartagena… He was sneaking up on Sully, trailing him...lifting the key from his pocket… But the lady, she turned her eyes to him, a blue filled with so much despise.

 _"You little sea urchin! What do you think you're doing?"_

Nathan dropped the wallet, key tight in his hand as he took a step back defensively. _"What's it to you?"_

Sully turned to him, the lady looking around him, Nathan seeing the hint of a malevolent smile. _"Little thief."_

 _"Takes one to know one!"_ Nathan turned and ran, holding onto the key. If anything, he could drop it in a pot and come back later. He slipped into an alley, listening for heavy footsteps. He heard them, looking for a ladder... He saw the fire escape he often used to dodge the police, jumping up and barely missing the man's grasp.

 _"Brat, get back here, now!"_

Nate focused on jumping from the roofs, landing on shingles and trying not to slide off. The man was right behind him, so close to grabbing his shirt...He jumped across an alley, the man grabbing his wrist, Nate yelling as he swung back and next to a window, trying to kick the glass. He felt his arm being pulled back, Nathan slipping the key into his shoe. He crossed onto the roof, the thirty foot drop disappearing from sight. The man in the green shirt was furious. _"Takes one to know one, eh? Give me back that key, now."_

 _"I don't know what you're talking about,_ sir. _"_

 _"Look kid, I'm not here to play games. Give me the god damn key right now. Or, I will search you, and I will find it. I'm not someone you want to mess with."_

 _"Then I need your help too. Deal?"_

The man laughed. _"I'm not accepting help from a kid. Now, give me the key so we both can carry on with our day."_

 _"Aren't you curious about_ why _I want the key in the first place?"_

 _"No, not really. Kid, this is my gig. Move on, find yourself another sucker."_

Nathan ripped his arm from the guys fingers, though his fingers had dug in a bit deep. _"Then you better search me, and hope I don't jump off this roof instead. I'm just a little thief."_

The man laughed. Laughed! _"Look, there's a nice lady back there—"_ Nathan took off, running back onto the main roof, but the man tackled him again, dropping him hard onto the stone. _"Dammit kid, I swear to god, I'm not in the mood for murdering young ones."_

 _"I need it! It belongs to my family! Not some stupid crook like you! Screw your bottom dollar market. I'm not getting anything from this!"_

Nathan struggled and slipped from his grasp, shocked for a few seconds before he ran towards the end of the roof and slid down a rain pipe, crossing a balcony, finding a quick getaway through an alley and up another home to where an acquaintance lived.

When evening fell, Nathan made his way back to the museum, quickly in through a window and down towards the case with the ring. He had the ring and the decoder in his hands... _"Get that boy!"_

The man who had chased him earlier, he was quicker than before. He tackled him, rearing to punch Nathan's face…

Nathan sat up, gasping. His hands clawed at the table, trying to clench anything nearby. They caught a book, Nathan grabbing it and bringing it close to him, rubbing his eyes furiously with the other hand. "You okay Nate?"

Nathan looked at Sully through his fingers, flashing between the nightmare and reality. That wasn't how things went down. Far from it. This man had saved his life. "Yeah, yeah. Just... I don't want to go back to South America if I can help it."

"You don't say..."

"When you found me... I haven't been back. _We_ haven't been back. Just thinking...if things went south instead of how they did... Who's to say anywhere in Argentina is a good idea?"

"Don't dwell on it, for once. Let me take control of everything. Don't worry about going to the country, of we even go there. Let's get the book translated first, okay? There's only a little more diatance, and then you can go haywire on my plane. Alright?"

"Yeah, yeah you're right. Just... I'm getting wrapped up in this already. We need the money and I don't want to disappoint you."

"Don't worry. We'll get this. We always have."

Nathan smiled, leaning back and looking out the train windows once again, the evening sun beginning its decent across the horizon. So close, they were so close to being home.

* * *

Ha, finally another post. Sorry it took so long. Rewrote this chapter a bit so it flows better. Any who. Happy holidays, can't believe it's already the end of the year. This next chapter I'm also trying to improve. I have like 6 other projects I'm working on right now so forgive me for getting distracted.

Happy hump day!


	5. To Light the Fuse

**Chapter 5**

Nathan flipped through _Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler,_ trying to remember the book. There was this one, a quick summary of the history of Argentina and its cities, lost historical cities of Argentina, different books and supposed narratives of Hitler and those he was close too, but through and through, he still didn't believe all the treasure was in Argentina. There hadn't been documents of the boats making it that far south.

"Dammit, I need to talk to Keller."

His mind was much clearer, his body quickly adapting to this bullshit drug. He did wonder if it was Flynn's poisoning that helped him adjust to the silver truth. He waited for Flynn to waltz in, do his stuff, drug Nathan, and take him wherever. _Not today. No, I need more than twenty four hours without that stuff. It's time to improvise._

Nathan stayed on his bed, trying to gather coordinates and whatever information from the books around. He skimmed them, just trying to become familiar. Without his journal or the other, half this information seemed useless for the time being. Finally, he heard the door knob jiggle, unlocking with a beep from the outside.

"Good morning, sweetheart, I have some delicious breakfast for you to munch on."

Nathan slowly looked over to Flynn, then back to his book. "Darling, you're the best. I don't know how I could have made it this far without you."

"Well, well, well. I suggest you sit that perky ass up and come get some nutrition. Skin and bones only makes it easier to beat you."

"At least words won't break them…" Nathan sat up and eyed Flynn, walking over and picking up the plate of pancakes. He grabbed the plastic fork, asking, "Why are you doing this?"

"You need your nutrition. Eat up, We're going back to a library today."

Nathan nodded, pouring the syrup on his plate, quickly bringing the plastic bottle up and smashing it against Flynn's head. He kicked him in the chest, shoving the pancakes up his face and to the wall. The man stumbled back, Nathan taking his chance and running to the door, taking off to the right, momentarily happy his socks provided quiet padding across the carpet floors. He busted through the stairwell, hearing a gun fire behind him. "Shit," he muttered, jumping down landings six stairs at a time. He saw a door at the bottom and through the door open, surprising the two guys outside smoking. "Evening, gents," he said, before running across the garage, the two men yelling after him. He knew he couldn't find a car in time, and he knew they were going to try to track him down back at his motel. He jumped over a short wall, running through some grass. He turned a corner of the building, spotting a tree he noted from the day before.

He quickly pulled himself up, carefully walking across a sturdy branch. Voices came close to him, Nathan coming to the top of the fence. Noting no barbwire or spikes, he quickly jumped, giving a yell as the top seemed to come close. He topped it, trying to grab it to slow his fall, suddenly electricity jolting through his arms. "No, no, no!" he screamed, dropping hard onto the pavement on the other side of the fence. He tried pushing himself up, but his arms couldn't move. The buzzing in his ears slowly faded, hands abrasively grabbing under his arms and pulling him up.

Nathan was dragged back towards the compound, a sigh escaping him. He had been so close. "You tricky, tricky bastard. Wait until Keller gets a load of this. I'll be surprised if you can see straight next week."

"Highly doubt it if your shock therapy hasn't worked yet."

The guard chuckled. "Oh, you'll be begging for the electricity again by the end of it," the one on his right replied, a dark pleasure coating his words.

"This isn't my first rodeo, you know." Nathan tried twisting his arms out of the men's grasp, but they had a strong hold as they dragged him across the lot, back into the grey building and up two flights, happily bouncing his lower half on the stairs. When they exited the stairwell, Flynn was in front of them, having cleaned the sticky mess off his upper half. He punched Nate across the face, again, and again, Nathan counting to five before the fuming man withdrew.

"Take him to the lab, then to Keller. Hold him until I get there. If he tries to escape, shoot him, but not to kill. Remember, he doesn't need limbs."

Flynn knocked him across the face, Nathan only laughing. "Glad to know your mother still hits harder than you." Nathan was jerked away, noting his room. "Hey, hey guys! Please, can I get my boots? This floor is a bit cold."

"Nothing worse than your heart. Flynn has the only key. Deal with it."

Nathan tried keeping track of the turns, but a solid toss against the wall when they reached the lab helped dissipate half the memory. They held him on the floor, a few minutes later Flynn walking in, cleaned up a bit more, blonde hair frazzled at the top. "All right Drake, you're in for it. When we're done here, Keller wants you downstairs. I don't believe you've been there yet."

Nathan tried moving again, but within a short moment Flynn was shoving the shot into his arm. "Don't miss now," Nathan tried, Flynn's smiled growing wider.

"Don't worry. I hope you remember how sick you were the first time you had this. Now add Mr. Keller to the mix. Oh boy. You're in for a real treat."

The men picked Nathan up and dragged him into the hall, taking a left instead of the normal right, and down more stairs. The drug began to hit Nathan, the walls and lights slowly shining across his vision. The hallway grew darker as he became limp in the guards hands. The motions began to mess with his stomach, but not as bad as when they finally threw him in a dark room, a heavy door slamming shut. Nathan tried using what little light there was under the door to see, but his vision was so blurry, he almost felt like he was in a sense deprivation tank.

 _You're okay...you're okay, just, someone will be here soon. Keller will be here soon. But you don't know what he's going to do. How bad can it be? How bad will it be?_ Nathan scooted back until he found the wall, bringing his legs up and curling against the small cramps forming in his stomach. He tried to focus on straightening his head out, but it became hard to tell if his eyes were open or closed. It seemed like someone had turned off all the lights in the hallway.

He heard a creaking sound, trying to look up, but he couldn't tell which direction he was looking. His mind was spinning, making it hard to focus. _"Well, well, well. What a little escape artist we have. That was pretty bold of you."_

A little prick by his ankles. Nathan jerked his leg away, but they came back, on both legs. Slow little nibbles, testing his reaction, seeing how fast they could move in comparison to him. Nathan tried squirming away, but the wall held him up. He tried moving his legs again, but he couldn't tell which direction they were moving. The different pitches of darkness swam in his vision, but dissipated whenever he tried to look at the hues.

" _Oh, now you don't have anything to say for yourself? Speak up!"_

A hard prick, digging in, Nathan giving a short yell, shaking his legs as he tried to stand up. "I, I can't be confined. I don't like it." A gasp escaped as his stomach twisted, his abdomen feeling constricted. "I don't like this! Any of it! I don't want to go to Argentina for you! I don't want to go like this! I hope the plane crashes into the ocean on top of the wreckage so you can have your damn fortune and die with it!"

" _Really now?"_ The voice sounded excited, breathless. _"So, maybe my books were good for you anyway. Good job, boy. I didn't expect you to look through them so soon."_

Another bite pricked his leg, Nathan crying out, wiggling itself up his pants. Nathan stomped hard, the creature falling out. Suddenly he was pushed back against the wall, a hand around his throat. " _If you ever mess with me again, trying to escape and bullshit me on my own funds, you're crazy. Since you're working for me, you're my property. And there's a bit of expectations that I have from you."_ Nathan was punched across the face, grip tightening around his throat, and tossed across the room. He hit the ground hard, his head spinning as a foot planted strongly against his chest, pushing him onto his pressure and weight changed, punches crossing his face, one after another. _"I am going to be your worst nightmare these next few days. My contacts are expected to report back to me, and then we will be leaving the country. Maybe you'll be coherent on the flight, maybe not. We'll see later after I'm done teaching you your lesson."_

Nathan felt like he was spinning. He couldn't tell up from down, just felt lifting, a punch, he fell into something... The floor? The wall? A smack against his skull sent his mind reeling, three more punches across his face. He was so disoriented, he tried bringing his arms up as some defense, but he was kicked back, foot square in his chest. He stumbled back, making it three steps before he was down, then picked back up and pushed, a quick yell as he suddenly was kicked again in the side, stumbling and falling, rolling, the ground scraping his arms and face. He was breathing hard, going to be sick. Suddenly the lights turned on, Nathan quickly rolling onto his back, sitting up. He tried focusing on Keller, the man seeming to flow back and forth. His black suit was still crisp, the man running a hand over his hair, smoothing it down. Nathan tried rubbing his eyes, seeing a solid grey room around him. There were a few blood splatters here and there, but he didn't know what was from him.

"What...what do you want?"

The man slowly came back towards Nathan, checking his nails and dirt on his hands. _"I need you to cooperate with me. I need you to behave and not try to escape."_ Keller bent down, once more wrapping his cool fingers around Nathan's throat, grip slowly tightening. _"I will be delivering your doses these next few days. I will not tolerate your childish behavior any longer. After this week is over I expect complete cooperation from you. If you continue to be intolerable, then I will happily subject others to your same situation."_

Nathan felt his chest constrict, able to make a small gasp. Keller grinned, his mouth widening as he squeezed tighter on Nathan's neck. Nathan's vision slowly darkened, the blue eyes becoming little pinpricks. Suddenly, his throat was released, Nathan taking in a few short gasps, trying to re-wet his mouth. His first full deep breath calmed his body down significantly, taking a few more before the hand clasped his throat again, the man smiling. _"I can do this all day. It's my favorite activity."_

Nathan closed his eyes, his chest seizing at once. His blood was pumping quickly, his heart was beating furiously, he hurt all over, his abdomen felt like it was stretching inhumanly far. He kicked, head swimming, the pressure tightening... The fingers released again, Nathan taking quicker breaths, deeper breaths, throat feeling raw inside and out.

Nathan opened his eyes, everything starting to straighten out. _"Do we have an agreement, Mr. Drake?"_ Nathan slowly nodded, Keller smiling again, just as darkly as before. _"Good, good. Now, you're to do whatever Flynn tells you, and whatever I tell you. Do you understand?"_ Nathan nodded, Keller standing up, still smiling. _"Remember, I'll be seeing you over the next few days. See you soon."_ Nathan was kicked across the head, the lights turning off, left to his own demise once again.

The next few days, Nathan learned how well Keller stuck to his word. He never knew when the man was going to come, but the beatings lasted awhile. He would keep the door open long enough to give him the shot, and then it'd be pitch dark, silent, little scuffles of Keller's shoes ever giving away his area. He stayed silent mostly, surprising Nathan with a kick or a punch, sending Nate landing in new position. Every time he came, the beating was worse than before, the psychosis becoming stronger. Nathan relentlessly shifted his legs and hands, feeling the rat bites, only dissipating the moments that Keller physically assaulted him.

" _Are you ready yet?"_ Keller asked, Nathan rolling over the ground, groaning, feeling the split in his arm stretch open again. _"Are you ready to leave to Argentina and work alongside me?"_

Nathan controlled his breathing, his ribs flaring along the left side, both shoulders sore and feeling overstretched, his lip was swollen, jaw sore. He groaned as he adjusted his legs, his thighs and abs feeling the most abuse. He rolled onto his back, his spine flaring at the base all the way up to his neck. "When do I get that journal?" he breathed out, refusing to lose his initial focus for the hunt.

" _What is it with you and that journal?"_ Nathan yelled out as Keller pinned his boot into his side once more. _"Tomorrow we're leaving. If I don't have your full cooperation on this trip, I will be sure your body is never to be found again."_

The boots stepped away, Nathan feeling as if he was swimming from the drugs and the pain. His mind was disoriented, and he didn't know how much blood he had lost. He had been fed once a day, water twice a day. He laid still, not wanting to disrupt any of his muscles. He let himself float away, the process the same as he's done every other time. He felt himself slip away into the drugs, his mentality following right along with it.

When Nathan woke next, he didn't recognize anything around him. Slightly familiar with being in this type of predicament, he was able to keep himself calm. He moved his hands, saw they were not strapped to anything. That was good. He adjusted himself, straightening up, quickly looking at his seats and armrests, recognizing he was on a plane. The guard next to him smiled, realizing Nathan woke up. "Good afternoon. Sorry you still have a few more hours until we land. Mr. Keller and Mr. Flynn apparently misjudged a little about you waking."

Nathan looked around, seeing they were towards the back of a plane, most likely a private jet for Keller. There were three rows of three, Nathan and his guard in the last row. There was a little area to walk, a table off to the right. The small room though was blocked off by a wall and brown door. The lavatory was off to the right, drinks and snacks behind the two of them. He saw another guard by the door but that was it. Dressed in green camo, he looked at Nathan and motioned across his neck.

"Where are we going exactly, then? Argentina, sure, but where?"

"Landing in Buenos Aires. There's a few things in that area we can check out. Now, give me your arm."

Nathan made to stand up, but his guard grabbed his arm, pulling him close, bringing a gun to Nathan's neck. "Don't fuck with me guy. I owe you for back at the compound."

Nathan relaxed, sitting back down on the chair, his left hand up in surrender, the right arm pinned painfully against the armrest. The guard wrapped his arm to the chair, quickly pulling a set of made needles, pulling out a middle one before quickly sanitizing and inserting the needle. Nathan shivered, goose bumps rising along his arms, all the way to his spine before finally fading. "Why so cold?"

"New concoction. Something about a new mixture from another country. Maybe it'll work well on you." The guard released his arm, Nathan rubbing it. Red marks were already appearing.

"Huh…great. Glad I can be your test subject."

"Well, in the meantime, some of the books that were in your room are in front of you. Pick some to start reading, Mr. Keller will appreciate that, I'm sure."

Nathan kept quiet, dragging out a biography, beginning to notice the drugs as they kicked in. It wasn't as fast, and it managed to slow his mind down without giving him the colors and the sick stomach. For starters, in comparison this was much better. He slowly crawled through the book, looking for references of his paintings and maybe other possible journals that were written. It had some bits on heirlooms that seemed to disappear towards the end of the second war, the fluttered words possibly hinting at a secret stash. The book was cited well, Nathan able to get a pen to mark the pages. He was moving slow, but he still could focus his mind and make his notes. The guard did keep Nathan's hands in his sight, making sure nothing was going to happen. _Naturally, it's a new drug. They don't know what could happen. Apparently I've surprised them a few times._

He was over halfway through the book when he handed the pen back to the guard, asking to use the bathroom also. They were beginning their descent, Keller and Flynn still nowhere to be seen. "Dare I ask if I can have some water? Or do you think that's too much?"

"You're the idiot who was too high to even pay attention or ask. I asked you at least once every hour."

Nathan looked at him, the guard standing and grabbing him some water and crackers. "Dinner will be after we land. This should suffice for now."

Nathan nodded his thanks, quickly slamming through the crackers and water, the guy looking at what Nathan had done. He paused on some of the notes, reading them carefully, seeing how lines ran across different pages, then referencing back to others. "I'm surprised you got this much done. It reminds me of a book I read once, the way you go back and forth."

"Hmm. Maybe I've read it once too."

"I don't know. It was creepy. About a house. Lots and lots of footnotes."

"Sounds intriguing. So, if you're kind enough to tell Keller I can work faster when I'm not doped up, you'd have another book inside of that to read. I don't even know if I'll be able to remember my notes."

"That's what Mr. Keller and Mr. Flynn are for. You just worry about the work and they'll do the rest."

"Great." Nathan looked up as the guard next to the door stood, finally opening the brown barrier.

"Your stuff will be brought to where you're staying. Just grab those books and water."

Nathan complied, still feeling a bit unnerved. He didn't know how long he had been away from Sully, or how long he's officially been on the drug. He hoped the man was faring well. He stepped through the door, following to the steps and quickly down, managing to shield his eyes in the evening sun. The humidity began crawling at his skin, Nathan sighing. At least the country still felt the same. A white SUV was by the airport, Nathan looking around and seeing this seemed like a small, private landing strip. There was another SUV in front, Nathan climbing up with the door guard, the other taking the book to the first vehicle. Nathan rode on the right side, the guard jumping in the front, the two vehicles taking off out of town. The drive was quick and nice, pulling up to a cemetery finally, the gravestones showing a variety of class buried. The guards got out, Nathan following, a cooler breeze suddenly rising, causing him to cross his arms. Stretching as they walked, he finally saw Keller and Flynn.

"Mr. Drake. It's pleasant to see you're healing quite well. Good work on that book too. Who knew you could question a biography in those words? I'm impressed."

Nathan didn't know how he looked. He was sore, saw some cuts, felt some bumps, but there hadn't been any mirrors around him on the plane. "Well, what are we looking for?"

"Some gravestones, Mr. Drake. I believe we have some proper historians buried here, and we are going to look around the graves, see what we can find. Shall we?"

Nathan nodded, staying a bit closer to the guards than to the other two. Keller walked up to the house of the property with one of his agents, the man translating between the owner and Keller. Keller came back, nodding to Flynn, before walking away. "Alright. Axel is going to stay here, make some calls. Let's go grave digging."

Nathan began walking, looking at the green scenery. They walked into the cemetery, Flynn leading the way. "What are we looking for here, exactly? Isn't this wrong, to be digging up a grave that may not hold anything?"

"You're so simple. No, we're not digging the actual _body_ up, just around the headstone. More so we're looking for a swastika. If we can find it, then there's supposed to be a note of some sort, or a book, or something that will lead us to the next place. A name, a location, something. So, we start with this bugger, and move around. Understood?" Nathan nodded, Flynn tossing him a flashlight. "Beautiful. Let's go, buttercup."

~~/\/\/\

Sully tapped the ash off the end of his cigar, looking at the brown cover in front of him. He stirred his drink, finishing the last third of it off. The waitress came over, asking him if he'd like another, Sully nodding. He couldn't get plastered, but, he could still at least have a bit to allow his mind to soar.

Three weeks. He had finally hit the three week mark of desperation. He knew they were on the right trail. Sully had reconnected with some of the men who had translated the book, asking what they remembered. Some of them seemed concerned that the book was stolen, but most said it shouldn't be a big deal. He received papers out of order, half complete and vague at worst. At least it was still something. Especially leading back to Berlin, or Germany in general, he needed help.

The waitress dropped the drink off, Sully tipping her a five. She gave an eager smile and pranced off, no doubt going to tell her coworkers how much she was making tonight. Sully flipped the pages of Nathan's journal again, landing on a certain page, looking at the digits once more. It was a lot to bet. He had a feeling about this character, and he knew he should trust his gut. He grabbed the book and drink, meandering onto the patio of the bar, puffing on his cigar. He found a table tucked in the corner, pulled out the book, slowly turning to the number. He was pretty sure it was one in the morning over there...The guy would be awake.

He dialed the number, accepted the charges...and was forced to leave a voicemail. "Charlie. It's Victor Sullivan, from the museum. I wanted to talk, see if we can get a bit more acquainted. I have a bit of a story for you about Nathan, and was wondering if you'd be interested in a history lesson. Here's my number."

Sully hung up, letting out a sigh, quickly puffing on his cigar for a moment. He needed a teammate. Someone who knew the job. He looked at the coordinates of the drawings Nate had scribbled down, not recognizing any off the top of his head. _If I had to guess, I'd say we're looking at areas bordering the water, along Europe._ "Come on Nate, just hold on a little longer."

He took a drink, his phone lighting up, vibrating across the table. "Good evening, Mr. Sullivan. This is Charles. What can I do for you?"

"I found Nate's notes, and I saw he left your number on it. He's exploring Hitler's trail right now with some guy, and that's about all I know. Now, what do _you_ know about Hitler and his death being a setup so he could escape to another country?"

"Dappling a bit in a conspiracy, aren't we?"

"Look, I'm running out of time. I don't know where Nate's at or how I'm going to get him back. There's a lot of money that could be made here. What do you know about Hitler?"

"All right, well, there's a bit. Hope you don't want to go anywhere anytime soon."

"I have more time than you, pal."

Charlie sighed, then began the extensive planning Hitler had from Germany after the war. All starting before the end of April, 1945, he eagerly explained how there were different ways for him to get around by plane, by few helpers, consistently all of Hitler's closest personal helping escape from country to country. "It's bloody brilliant. He could have slipped up to Denmark, or straight to Spain, which he still flew too after Denmark. Franco, main connection down there. Had a whole monastery and tunnels and everything. 'Nother bloke, Degrelle, flew to San Sebastian out there. From there they probably flew to the Canary Islands, and then from there, sailed by U-Boat to Argentina. After that they were on the run, ducking and dodging and trying to build a Fourth Reich."

"Well how about that. That's quite a tail. So I'm in belief that the treasure is in Europe still. Nate was on that path as well. What are your thoughts?"

"I'd like to look at Argentina, but I think there are just relics down there. Hitler wasn't able to take anything if he was staging his death. I think we might be able to pinpoint it back to somewhere, maybe an accomplice. No forensics were done on Hitler, so that maybe the info was kept close to heart. I think Germany is the best place to start."

"I'm going to agree with you on that. Even if it's not the country we finish in, I think it's going to be a good start."

"Well then, where shall we meet up?"

"I got nothing tying me down here. I can fly to Berlin. Are you able to meet up in, say, thirty-six hours?"

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. I guess you're coming from the states?"

"Have to. We had to come back, but it wasn't worthwhile at all."

"Right, right. Well, I will see you in thirty-six hours, at the Victory Column."

"Sounds good. Have a safe flight."

Sully hung up, letting out a deep breath, taking a long pull from the cigar, the smoke swirling around his mouth. He slowly blew it out, not eager for the flight. Now though, he could go back to that scummy motel, pack up, and get out. The server came over, replacing his drink as he asked to close his tab. She smiled before disappearing.

"I said I wanted to call the shots on this one. I had to open my damn mouth. Cutter better be easy to work with, and we better come out with some gold."

* * *

Whoop whoop, there's Cutter! Now officially it's going to be more Drake and Flynn working together, and Cutter and Sully.  
AND THEYRE COMING OUT WITH ANOTHER UNCHARTED! Aaaahhhhh, all the pairings!  
All right, back to typing. Been making a lot of notes, now to put it all into a story.

Happy Tuesday!


	6. Another Step Left

**Chapter 6**

"Wake up, Sweetheart. We're here."

Nathan sat up, pulling his arms close and surveying...the front seat of the SUV. He dropped his arms, leaning back against the seat. "How long was I sleeping?"

"Probably the last six hours. No worries, it was god awful boring." Flynn's voice was about as dull as dirt.

Nathan rubbed his eyes and slid out of the vehicle, Flynn double checking all lights were off in the vehicle. Nathan pulled on a light jacket, the sun beginning to rise over the small town. "What are we looking for here?"

"This is part of Axel's base camp. They have a spot over a street. They will be able to inform us where they've been looking, and they may have some other tips to help us out. We have what you questioned, but they're the ones who will have the answers."

"And, we're the only ones out here looking for Hitler?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I mean the government officials have been keeping an eye on us but it's been pretty quiet from the reports."

"Well, just remember I showed up, so likely things are going to change."

Nathan followed Flynn up the street, his body guard, Daly, behind him. The three of them had left the rest, able to meet up with little detachments of men Keller had running the around country. "So how are you feeling princess? Are you going to pull any funny business, or do I need to numb you up prior to meeting everyone?"

"Don't worry about me. I'd like to ask coherent questions."

"But it's so nice when you look like a babbling bafoon. Helps my buddy and I look like the geniuses."

Daly gave a short chuckle. "You are pretty unaware of things when you're doped up."

"Niahahaha, thanks guys. Glad my reputation is going down the drain."

"What reputation could you possibly be talking about? You haven't been anywhere reputable yet."

"They're lining up... I have some good leads on a few places. It's just finding the right team and, and—"

"Oh quiet. Shoot for the stars after we're done here. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can move on in our lives. And maybe, just maybe," Flynn gestured widely. "If you are successful, and I become successful, then I'll call you up, and we'll do another heist together."

"Yeah, and this time I won't be so generous with the profits."

"Get over it. Don't let yourself get all wrapped up—"

"We're here," Daly said from behind them, Nathan and Flynn pausing their step, looking at Daly, Nathan then following Flynn's gaze to the house in front of them.

Flynn walked up to the door of the single floor house, white, drab and boring as all the other houses around. The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, gold light splashing across the yards and brown dirt roads. The sun helped bathe the street in a golden tint, but it still was a depressing area to be around.

Nathan turned back around as the door opened, taken aback. A lady answered the door, but Nathan was surprised at how short she was. She had to barely reach five foot. Short brown hair bobbing around her face, she gave a quick squeal as she hugged Flynn. "Harry! It's so good to see you again! It's been months!"

"It's good to see you too, Nora. May we come in please?" She nodded, happily jumping out the way, holding the door. "You're such a darling," Flynn said, Nathan catching the lady's cheeks tinge pink. They entered through the door straight into a living room, books, papers, folders and maps extended over two tables. In the kitchen and family room, there was only more.

"Woah, this is impressive," Nathan started, wanting to grab it all and start reading. "How did you obtain all this?"

"FBI, and a few other cooperating countries. We have a good portion of all the documents out around the world, all thanks to Mr. Keller. He was able to obtain these to further our research. Heck, he's even supporting the vast majority of it on his funds. He's a wonderful man."

"Yeah, wonderful. Swell guy. How long have you had these? Who else is looking at these?" Nathan didn't touch anything yet, just read tops of the papers, recognizing pages in Spanish and English, some German, Russian.

"Well, for about a month I suppose. We're the only camp that has all the papers. Whenever we find something regarding another area, we organize the info, and send it out with all the information on where to look, what to look for, the whole everything."

"What other leads are you going on? Surely you're not only looking at what the government has to say."

"Oh, no, we're looking into family and people too. There was a lot that went on down here. Supposedly up the road Hitler may have unloaded from the U-boat, witnesses report, and it may have sunk around here too. Another boat claims that they caught a U-boat emerging from the water, before quickly submerging again. There were families, transportation, ways to communicate if need be. He was blind in everyone's eyes right now. This was the best time for him to be moved swiftly and safely."

Nathan nodded, glancing at some of the names. "Flynn, check it out. 'Antonio,' like on the grave we found. Antonio Ebert. Doesn't say anything here about him."

"A lot of the names we have, were actually pulled off gravestones. Certain ones are marked, representing the German immigrants, but some are Argentinians who joined the Nazi cause, or Hitler's Youth." Nathan glanced up and smiled at Nora, then looked back down at the documents. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Nathan Drake. Historian of sorts."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Please, help yourself to the documents. I've gone over them a few times, so I know roughly what order they're in. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

Flynn finally opened his mouth. "Where to next? Where would he have landed this U-boat? How did he get out of the town, how far did he go? How much longer do I have to drive?"

Nora giggled. "You're going to be doing a bit of driving. I know you hate it, but it's what we have around here." Nora shot another grin to Flynn. Nathan held back from rolling his eyes, distracting himself with some of the papers in front of him. "Well, for starters, I believe they landed the sub off of Caleta de los Loros. Nice wide beach, decent depth. Easy. From there, Lahusen family would have helped him. Made it to a few more cities, then out further north. Based off the time frames, he was slow, injured, and moving as quick as he could."

"Right, right, because of his stomach ailments and his asthma," Nathan mumbled, picking up one of the pages. "But hey, we're off to a great start here, so let's follow his tracks. Shall we go take a swim in the Atlantic? I haven't done that in a while, stripping down to the boxers, " Nate joked, nudging Flynn in the side.

"All right, all right. You're so clever. Yes, sure, let's go peek at the beach, see what there is to offer. Maybe we'll stumble upon something, maybe it'll be a waste of a day. Shall we, sunshine?" Flynn looked back to Nora. "We'll be back later today, if that's okay?"

Nora nodded. "We're not going anywhere! No worries."

Flynn, Nathan, and Daly left back for the car, Flynn looking at the map. "Yep, about twenty minutes away."

They stopped long enough to pick up breakfast and supplies, the sun beginning its way across the sky. Flynn and Daly didn't say anything, Nathan beginning his descent into a murky mood. The green grass led to sand and dry shrubs, nothing growing past the height of your knee. Nathan couldn't see much around. Nowhere to run, hide, escape... That's all he had to do, was keep his eyes open and take the next opportunity he could.

 _How could Keller find a drug that dumbs you down like an obedient monkey? How did he manage it? How can it be fought?_ Out of all the books he's read and people he's been around, drugs were the last thing he knew anything about. _Okay, since I can't fight the drugs, I can avoid them. I need to find Hitler's paintings, gold, anything from what might have been with him._ Nathan sighed, looking out the window again. He could see the coast coming up. _I need this treasure. I need to get ahead of Keller. His notes are at my disposal, but not what I give to him. I need to find a way to remember the info I give him._

"Ladies, here we are. Let's start looking around."

Nathan glanced up, sliding out of the vehicle, walking a few steps out. Flynn and Daly meandered towards the water, Daly positioned to keep an eye on Nate. "Yeah, yeah, keep your eyes open," Nate muttered, looking out at the hills. They were probably discussing the sighting of the U-boat. He stepped away, watching the ground, curious what clues would be around sixty years later. He paced back and forth around the hills, slowly making his way further and further.

"Hey, what the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

Nathan looked up, Daly and Flynn running his direction. "Looking for clues. Are you done admiring the scenery with your partner? You guys are getting ridiculous."

"Yes, well, we have important matters to discuss concerning this location. So, take a quick dose, and try not to wander too far."

Nathan slipped his arm out of the jacket sleeve, Flynn catching sight of the edge of Nathan's worse cuts. "Did Axel pull his knife on you?"

Daly swabbed the area, Nathan unsure if Flynn was asking the question to make a snide remark, or if he was looking for small talk. "I don't know. I wasn't too perceptive of the surroundings."

"Curious, that's all. Maybe it was a rock. Have you even looked in a mirror?"

"Besides the quick glance in the car, no. Why do you ask? Or care?"

He noticed Daly putting his arm down. Nathan slid his arm back into the jacket, his mind already wanting to go its own direction. He looked back at Flynn. "He held you in there a little longer than anyone else. Was just curious how his technique is changing. Worked pretty well on you."

Nathan couldn't say anything back. His thoughts were beginning to spin around on each other. He stepped away from the two, not sure what to look for. They went back to the water, Nathan carefully stepping around the shrubbery and grass, turning around another hill. He yelled out, suddenly falling down. He leg was stuck, Nathan trying to push himself up. Suddenly he moved, then was pulled up and out of the hole by Daly. "Find a fox hole, Drake?"

Drake stared at it for a moment, getting back down on his knees. "No, something else," he said quietly, his attention completely on the hole. There was something shiny down there, the silver playing in the sun. He reached back in the hole, Flynn sighing. His hands wrapped around the small piece of metal, lifting it up with his fingers... "A bottle," he simply stated, setting it down and reaching back in.

"Daly, scour this area and see if there's a second hole or storage area around here. It'll be close to this one." Nathan dug out two more bottles and a cup. "Nice work Drake. A least you didn't break your ankle."

Nathan gave a short nod, digging more of the items out. The themed seem like cups and water. Something they probably would have needed. _Maybe there's medicine bottles in this hole, or if Daly finds another one. I almost guarantee there will be at least one bottle._ "Do you have a shovel or something useful?"

Flynn rolled his eyes, pulling his small backpack off. He pulled out a small, collapsible shovel. "Ay, Flynn, over here!" Nathan looked up as he took the shovel, Daly about two hundred feet away.

Nathan went to digging, making quick leeway on the hole, pulling out a variety of items, grinning as he finally found a small brown one, trapped in a clump of dirt. He held his smirk as he broke the dirt off with his hands and a bit of water he had. It was small, no bigger than his thumb. Silver lid. Empty. He gave it a small toss up and caught it, out of habit sticking it in the side pocket of his pants.

"Drake! What are you doing?" Flynn was running back towards him, voice harsh.

Nathan looked up stupidly, then back at the hole. "I'm digging...?"

"Your pocket! Empty it!" Nathan looked down and smacked his forehead, pulling out the vial. This drug was making him stupid. Flynn's arm pressed against his neck, dropping him to the ground. "Are you pocketing items that could lead back to Hitler?"

"No, no I'm not. Sorry, it was out of habit. Take it."

Flynn released his arm, taking the vial and standing back up. "Looks like medicine. Good find, mate. Keep digging and see how much more. Clearly if there's nothing major found yet, this must have been a simple drop site." He strolled back over to Daly, Nathan picking himself up and digging a little more, not finding anything else besides other broken cups and bottles.

They regrouped, Daly and Flynn walking back to the ocean. "So, I think there's reason to search for a sub, but I'll bring that up with Axel," Flynn said, looking around stoically. Nathan wanted to roll his eyes, but instead he turned to the side, beginning to fade from his ramblings. "We'll head back to San Antonio Oeste, and meet up with Nora. We'll discuss where to head next. The trail has been lit. Aren't you fella's excited?"

Nathan and Daly stayed silent, Flynn sighing noisily before muttering, "Let's go back to the truck," walking away. Nathan followed, trying to not slip into the quiet hole this drug sent him into. This was the third day, but already he had caught the men chuckling behind his back, two or three coming up to ask questions rapidly, only to have him stare at them in response, trying to word the answers and to whom. For now, he just went along with it. Everything was out of his hands for the moment, and opportunity would arise for him to get away.

They made their way back to Nora's, the petite lady eager to show Nate the papers, although slightly put off about Nathan's sudden change in personality. She adjusted her glasses at lot more, explaining how she had everything divided up, Nathan quiet, mumbling or nodding his understanding, trying to keep it straight in his head. She smoothed her red shirt, giving a quick thumbs up to Nate. "If you need anything, I'll be around! Same with Jacob and Cindy. They're in the back rooms, fiddling with a chart. They're going to question some people soon!"

She bounced away, a small smile escaping Nathan. How the hell did she find Keller? He grabbed a chair and sat down, pulling the first stack of papers towards him and some blank ones, beginning his descent into the inkwell. He wrote notes and ideas, slowly filling up the page, moving onto the next one. He was captivated by what he was reading. The pages in Spanish made progress a bit slower, but it was easy to see the whole range of the project. Hitler had spent a lot of time planning this event. _I wonder if this happened before it was supposed to? I wonder if he was going to let this develop over the next few years before he had to come down here. Shifting his entire lifestyle, hiding from country to country, traveling with all these people who you had to trust, because everyone was turning to the Allies... You had a least a day's advance on death...Waiting for the right moment, the right team to take the fall, having to leave all your power locked in a pill..._

Nathan glance up, wondering when Flynn was going to check his progress. He sat straighter, seeing the grasp of darkness at the windows. "What the hell?"

"Well, well, look who finally came back." Flynn waved a hand in front of Nathan's eyes, before leaning against the table in front of him. "Good to see you again, sport. Was wondering when you were going to wake up."

"Dammit Flynn. What time is it?"

"Almost seven. You've been at this about eight hours now. How are you feeling?"

Nathan dropped his head into his hand, catching sight of Nora behind them. She seemed off again, fiddling with a ring on her finger. "Like my brain is swollen." He looked down at everything, seeing small piles of information, blank papers right next to that. Next to his right arm he had two slightly disheveled stacks of papers, overlapping in some spots. He picked up the top paper, seeing Berlin across the top. He began to remember some of the papers he had been reading. Nothing exciting, besides telling him to go back to Germany.

"Well, I guess I see why. You've gone through a lot of those papers. We're going to have to separate them and let Keller know what progress you made."

"Not until Nora looks at them." The small lady looked up, pulling her sweater down a little. Nathan gave a ghost of a grin, a headache forming right behind his ears. "They're in order, and I think you'll be able to figure out the notes to the information. It's pretty straight forward."

She nodded, Flynn rolling his eyes. "Whatever, mate. I trust Nora. I know Axel does too." Nathan noted a quick smile cross Nora's face. "I'm just glad you're not bleeding through your ears or nose."

"Why?"

Flynn smirked, crossing his arms. "Just a little side effect we've been keeping an eye out for. You've been fine so far."

Nathan nodded, looking back at Nora. "What tricks did they pull on me this time?"

Her eyes widened a little, before looking at Daly and Flynn. "Well, ah, just little things, showing me how wrapped up you become. Asking if you wanted lunch, about your...friends?" Her cheeks turned a shade of red. "Then they flicked little paper balls and other things, trying to see if they could break your concentration."

Nathan glanced at Flynn, a smug grin crossing the blonde's face. "We were bored, curious, and wanted to see how far we could go."

"Are we done here then? I do have a headache now, thanks."

Flynn smirked and said his good byes to Nora and her crew, Nathan heading back to the vehicle. He was getting tired of these guys messing around with him. He hung out next to the vehicle, Flynn and Daly soon walking up. "Aww, what's the matter, love? Did daddy make his little princess upset?"

"Cut the crap Flynn. You guys screwing around with me is bullshit. I'm not some little stupid pet that you can dick around with."

Flynn leaned in close, his smile growing. "But that's the best part. You are, and we can."

Nathan launched himself at Flynn, slamming him against the side of the car and down onto the ground. He landed his fist once across Flynn's face before Daly pulled him off, holding Nathan's arms behind him. Flynn quickly stood up, returning the punch. "Learn your place, Drake. No wonder you're stuck working alone all the time. You're terrible with others. Throw him in the back, Daly. Give him a shot. If he's coherent when we get back then he can have some food."

Nathan rolled his eyes, Daly following orders. Nathan shut his eyes, the flashing street lights hurting his head. His thoughts faded, Nathan only able to think about how much his head was hurting. He tried rubbing behind his ears and down into his neck, but it was hard to focus long enough to do anything worthwhile. His felt warm, his breathing increasing. At least the glass was cool against his forehead. _"Drake...Drake..."_ He thought he heard, but his vision went black when he turned his head. He groaned, shifted, and lost touch with his conscious as he fell into the black.

/\/\/\~~

"Victory Column, eh? What little secrets are you hiding?" Sully asked, hands idly fidgeting in his pockets. He'd be able to smoke, just not for the moment.

"Victor Sullivan, I presume?"

Sully turned around, smiling. "Charles! Or would you prefer Charlie?"

Sully clasped hands with the man, a bag being set down next to him. "Charlie, please. So, how do you like the tower?"

The man was tall, broad, shaved head. He wore simple jeans and a green t-shirt, peering through his sunglasses at the crowd. "I think it's hiding something, but that's just me."

"I see you've been in this type of situation before, good, good. Now, the question is, where shall we start? Here or at the Templehof airport?"

"Well, since we're already here, might as well. Any idea what we're looking for?"

"Let's get inside and then we'll talk."

Sully kept an eye out as Charlie picked the lock leading into the tower, Sully smiling at people. "So, there's a few places we're going to be looking into. There's going to be transportation, housing, financials, partnerships, there were a lot of things going on at the time. It's going to take a bit to organize."

"Got it, let's go."

Sully turned and followed Cutter into the tower, Cutter dropping his bag, pulling out a map, and heading up the stairs. They climbed around and around, finally coming to the top, a beautiful view of Berlin greeting them. "I wonder how long until we're going to see the tiergarten."

"It's on the list. All right, so there's a few theories. This one, the column, is a claim that Hitler had a plane fly out from this road. The other theory, at Templehof."

"But if we're talking old war planes, I don't think there was enough space to get out of here." Sully looked down at the road, taking in the gardens to their location. "Hmmm...what next?"

"They launched the plane the day before his death. They took this road, over this tower. We can try combing it to see if there's anything still here, like, a, a picture, a lighter, something small, minute, something that can hide in a place like this for sixty years."

"That's the thing though, this tower has had access in it for sixty years. Who's to say it hasn't been picked through all ready?"

"Oh, I'm sure it has, but I believe we can find something."

"Now I see why Nate likes you..." Sully replied, putting his hands up. "All right, you got me. Let's see if we can find anything. Then we can head to the airport and see what's over there."

They split up, Charlie heading to look around the stairs, Sully looking around the tower. He kept looking down at the road, imagining how a plane could fly over a place like this. It'd have to be quick, but powerful enough to take off that fast. Back in 1945, plane development had seriously grown, but they still weren't close to what came out afterwards. He walked over to edge of the opening looking out, a short glimmer catching his eye. He looked to the right, not seeing it again. Stepping back, Sully surveyed the area, knowing he saw something. He looked up towards the ceiling, following a rope and beam across and down, wondering if there was any way someone could get out and place something on the side of the tower. He looked back out the opening, hoping no one would see him. He saw the glimmer once more, reached out and grabbed it, slowly peeling it back off of the paint.

"That's it?" He shook his head, someone having written _Warning, warning! The father is outside!_ He thought that was the translation, but it didn't make much sense. He went back to looking, finally grabbing the rope leading up to the ceiling, climbing up. He wanted more, needed to know more of what happened. This could get shady really quick, knowing the Germans didn't like to have their history brought up.

"Dammit Cutter, there's nothing here!" Sully called, checking out the rails and last crooks and crannies. His gut was telling him they were in the wrong place, losing valuable time.

"I see that. You're right, you're right, there's nothing here. Quit acting like a squirrel, then we'll move onto the next area." Sully slid down, giving a slight growl at his remark. "Calm, Cujo. Now, we might as well head off to the Tiergarten. I also highly doubt anything will be there, especially if this place came up as boring as it did. Maybe the German's kept to the same traditions as back in the day and we can gather some clues."

"I like the way you think. It'll be a waste of time, but, you know, _naturally_ we might learn something from it."

"Ay, people hide items in places that make you bonkers."

"I'm not pulling any damn weeds if that's what you're getting at."

Cutter and Sully started descending the tower, Cutter shaking his head. "No, no, people like Hitler enjoyed toying with his peers. It just made him that much more powerful. _If_ we find anything, seriously mate, it's going to be stupid and almost unequivocal because he thought all of us were the most basic blonde moronic monkey's to figure out the use of our digits."

"Yeah, the guy was a real charmer. So the gardens are unlikely, so maybe I can call a friend to see if they have dug up anything ?"

Charlie lit up. "Phone a friend? Yeah mate, why didn't you say anything earlier? Breaking into anything in Germany is worse than calling a reference. Duh." Charlie reached the door and carefully opened it, glancing out, Sully only able to let a low growl out. "Don't make me take you to the vets now..." Cutter muttered, grabbing his bag and sliding out, Sully waiting for a single, sharp knock stating it was safe for him.

Sully and Cutter walked over to Sully's rental while Sully made the call, grinning within moments. Sully lit up a cigar, talking around it for a few minutes, giving a brief nod and hanging up, gesturing to the door. "All right mate, let's get going."

"Your reference... Can we trust them?"

"Of course. We'll be there within a half hour I'm sure."

Cutter helped with directions, Sully parking in front of a smaller building, dark wood holding the roof up, no more than ten feet high. It was tucked away behind lush trees and plants, a small walkway lined with yellow and purple flowers leading to the door way. Sully carefully walked on the brick path, coming up to the glass doors. As he approached the overhang, the door slid open, a lady running out, circling her arms around Sully's neck.

"Victor! It's so good to see you again!" She squeezed tight, Sully catching the startled look Cutter was trying to conceal.

"Lorraine, you're looking as beautiful as ever." She stepped back, a burgundy dress hugging her body. The style loosened around her neck, Sully glimpsing a gold chain behind the fabric. Her brown hair was pulled into a bun, the smile unable to erase from her lips.

"And you're quite the charmer still twenty years later."

"Well, after my friend and I dapple in a bit of heroics, I'll have to come back and catch up. For now, this is Charles Cutter. Charlie, this is Lorraine, an old accomplice."

"Pleasure," she said, Charlie taking her hand and giving it a quick kiss on the back.

"Likewise. Now, shall we get down to business?"

Sully and Cutter followed her in, Sully taking in the small home, wide windows, and traveling photos. As she gathered her books, notes, and computer, Sully explained the type of information they were looking for, fishing for an answer to spark his interest. Lorraine completed his questions in snippets of a history lesson, only happy to explain why Hitler acted the way he did, the type of people he had at his power here in Germany, and then how far his resources stretched out. "How often he was teaching his commanders, only to ship them out, was astounding. He could have risked everything, trusting a spy to learn and then head to another country and unravel his workings, but it didn't happen. He played his cards close and carefully. Those he trusted most, he sent to Argentina mainly. Similar to the Americas, with the building and populating of colonies, Hitler was trying to do that as well."

"Really?" Charlie purred, crossing his arms, thinking aloud. "So, say that's true. Say he even got away to go to Argentina, finally, was able to meet with his most trusted advisors of sorts, that's all fine and dandy, but that only means he had to leave the rest here, to surrender."

"And they did. His death was reported, the allies shipped out and Germany was held for all of the wrongdoings. But, Hitler didn't escape. He died. There were military personal of the Russians and Germans that identified his body." Sully tried hiding his smile as Lorraine looked back and forth from the two of them. "He _is_ dead, right?"

Sully finally stuck his hands in his pockets, giving a polite smile. "He's most likely dead _now,_ from his ailments, but no, we believe he made it out of Germany. But, we're curious about the items he left behind or possibly took with him. There's certain possessions we'd like to see if we can find."

Lorraine's blue eyes went wide, her head dropping, fingers rubbing her temples. "Oh my gosh, you're trying to find his fabled trophies."

"Well, we're not exactly calling them his trophies—"

"The set includes his paintings, his collections from the countries he conquered, untold numbers of relics that are worth thousands of dollars at least... There won't be any cash, maybe some gold, but no one has been able to find it. And people have been looking for decades, Victor. What do you think you possess that no one else does?"

"I have been working with a kid the last twelve years, teaching him everything I know. He's smart, clever, and has a knack for these types of things. He's like a magnet to the mysteries of the world. He's been kidnapped though, and to get him back, we have to find this treasure first."

"So you're relying on someone who isn't even here?"

"And this is where you come in. You've studied Hitler since before we ever met. You can be convinced he's dead, but I'm convinced he's left some sort of treasure behind and we're going to find it."

"Darling, you're brilliant," Cutter said, moving in front of her, gently taking her hands from her head. "We're looking at the past, at the what was. We're not worried about what ifs until possibly later, and then we'll figure it out from there. Tell us what you know, and we'll pick it apart for what we need."

Lorraine sighed, tugging at her bun and wrapping her hair higher, into a ponytail. "All right. You're going to need a pen and paper, though. There's a lot that went on in the years he was leader. He moved a bit, visited a lot of areas, took command of a lot of places. His range of influence expanded over numerous countries."

* * *

Happy 2017! Can't believe it! And i'll be 27 next month. Ugh. Hope this chapter is good, i've been sitting on it, wondering where to go next. And i've been reading a lot. Terry Goodkind, his Sword of Truth series, i highly recommend. Just found out there's 13 books now to the series, and I have 11, but i've only read 8.. My goal is to finish the series soon.  
Enjoy this chapter, hoping to update soon. Now i know where i'm going with this and i'm still figuring out where to add the action. Have a happy night!


	7. Always work as a Team

**Chapter 7**

Sully slowly puffed on his cigar, watching the sun set behind the airport. It wasn't in use any longer, hasn't been for a long time, but he wasn't comfortable with the wide, open field surrounding the main building. "Think there's another way in?" he muttered, Charlie tapping his lip.

"If there is, we're not going to be able to access it."

"There has to be a tunnel. There's no god damn way Hitler booked it across this field and hoped he didn't get shot."

"Yes that makes sense, there's just no telling which direction the tunnel travels in."

Sully picked up on the sarcastic irritability, responding with his own polite manner. "So be it. I just don't like how open this area is, since we're not supposed to be any closer."

Charlie gave a crooked smirk, looking over at Sully. "Ready for a short sprint?"

"Any time. Figured that would be our solution."

Sully tapped his cigar out, Cutter counting to three before he paced around the edge of the field, the area finally getting dark, street light officially on. On Cutter's signal they crossed the tarmac, Sully getting them into the locked building. They sealed the door behind them, pulling out there flashlights.

"Bit spooky in here," Charlie said softly, finding the hallway to start down.

Drips of water tapped through the halls, crickets and few bugs bothering them. Their steps echoed around the hall, hardly any rooms coming across their path. "We need to go lower," Sully said, seeing another hallway. "The blueprint showed a ladder down this hall."

They quickly walked down the hall, Charlie pausing as a short clatter reached their ears. They looked at each other before hurrying down the hall, looking for the ladder. Sully ran through his mind all the sounds they had heard so far, knowing their sources. The clatter, as faded as it seemed, granted them a head start. As far as who could be following them was a bit nerve wracking. Sully tapped Cutter's shoulder, pointing to a rusted steel ladder heading down, off to the side of the large hall. Cutter went first, quickly climbing down, Sully listening for footsteps. He couldn't hear anything yet. Maybe it was just some punk kids to graffiti the place.

When Sully stepped away from the ladder, Cutter looked at Sully, who was running through the blueprints in his mind. He was pretty sure they were on the right track, but without any distinguishable landmarks in the dark, it was a little trickier. "This way," Sully whispered, pointing to the right. "I believe it's this way people have found the tunnels."

They started off, Sully suddenly pausing, barely grabbing Cutter's shirt, motioning for him to stay quiet.

" _Do you think we're going to find anything in this concrete shithole?"_

" _Probably not. But the big man has big money so I'm not going to be a big whiner."_

" _Hey, is this the ladder we need?"_

Sully looked at Cutter, the two sprinting down the hall, Sully relieved by the pressure of his gun strapped to his back. He didn't think the people would be so close all ready. Cutter took another left, pausing against the wall, taking in a few steadying breaths. "We need a plan."

"Working on it," Sully muttered. "They're a lot closer than I thought they would be. Maybe they're nervous about the place, so they just want to hurry so they can get out be paid."

"So what, we just need to find the tunnels or something before them?"

"Yep. We know the treasure isn't here. But, if we find the tunnels, maybe they will lead us in the direction of the treasure."

"Yeah, if the bloody things haven't collapsed yet." Cutter looked around, Sully as well, trying to find some sort of clue. "Well, it's either the tunnels or a gun fight, so let's get moving."

They came to a crossroad in the hall, Sully turning left, then taking the next right. There were more rooms down in this area, doors rusty, covered in a film of dust. Desks and chairs were on the outside of some rooms, shelves lined against other doors, waiting for a trash pick-up that would never come. Sully and Cutter were careful not to touch anything, although Cutter made a quick comment of hiding in the rooms until the others passed.

"Or, they'll slow down and check the rooms. We don't know what they're looking for. Stay on our task."

They took another left, finding another ladder heading down. Sully knew they were on the right track, now on the second page of the blueprint, the rough layout of an area Hitler designed, none allowed to enter during the business of the airport. Lorraine kept a secret smirk on her face as Victor kept trying to prod where she had obtained this.

" _I'm not saying how I obtained this. But people thought whatever construction was simply a service tunnel. Maybe a bomb shelter. No one actually knew besides Hitler and the workers."_

Sully swung his flashlight around the room, seeing a wide area. He looked at the far walls, wondering why the room was bare, besides the large columns holding the ceiling up.

" _Ha! You owe me twenty! Told you I would find it."_

Cutter and Sully flashed their lights at each other, then quickly back around the room. "We have to hide behind the pillars. There's no other options. Either wait for them to pass, or surprise and sneak up on them."

Sully clicked his light off, running off closer to the wall, ducking behind a pillar. He saw Cutter's light turn off, flooding the room in complete darkness. Sully sat hunched over, breathing carefully, listening to the soft patters of the boots coming down the ladder. There was a thump, footsteps moving away, a flashlight shining over the room.

"Feels different down here," a male voice asked, another set of boots landing on the ground.

"Well, the building is really old, so the air is probably more stuffy, full of dust."

"Not what I was talking about," the voice muttered, the boots stepping away, Sully watching the flashlights bounce around. Another set of boots thudded on the ground, Sully hoping three was enough for the scouts.

Sully saw Cutter across from him, but didn't see any shadow stretching his figure, hoping it was the same for him.

"So, do you think we're going to find what Keller's after?" The guard asked, Sully noting it was the first guard they heard.

"Not likely. He wants the big hunt himself. He's going to draw himself down that road. He's just using us to eliminate the false trails." Sully thought that was the third guard, not recognizing the voice.

"Haven't you ever done this before?" Number two asked.

"Well, not to this extent. I thought this was a myth."

Sully watched their flashlights bob closer, the three completely unaware of them. Sully let his breath out as the lights began to pass them, beginning to reach back for his gun. The three were distracting themselves with their conversation, giving Cutter and Sully the advantage. He pulled the gun from its holster, a flashlight glancing over him, the guard in the middle pausing. "Hey! You there!"

"Shit," Sully muttered, ducking around the side of the pillar. He heard a gun fire, then more rounds being shot. He peeked around the edge, saw one guard down, the other pointing towards where Cutter was. Sully fired off one round, hitting the guy in the back of the head, the other guard quickly turning around, Sully firing again, Sully watching his bullet nail the guy in the head, as Cutter's bullet flew out the other side of his throat.

The man fell, Cutter and Sully quickly running to the small group, rummaging through their pockets. "What was the name the man said? Keller?"

"Yeah..." Sully tried remembering if Nathan had said the name of who he was stuck working for. "Nathan never said the name of the person he was stuck under. Harry Flynn and another he named bossy. Maybe the name is Keller. Remember it for now, and we'll get to it later."

They found the map the men were following, small dots on the parameter of the building. "There's the rest of the crew. Maybe we can catch one of them and get some information?"

Sully glanced over at him. "What type of historian did you say you are?"

"Well, I didn't really _say_ , I've just happened to dapple in areas around the world, studying maybe some of the more _illegal_ things of interest..."

"All right. Well, glad to have you on my side. We have what we need here, let's find that tunnel before everyone comes looking for us. We're pretty far underground, so I don't believe the sound of the bullets made it up top."

"Then let's get moving mate. We're almost there, according to their map."

They stood up, Sully flashing the light over the map, seeing it was the same one Lorraine had. "Well I'll be god damn, this is curious."

"And what's so peachy on this fine night?"

"This is same map Ms. Lorraine had back at her place. There's even the same small rip on the right side of the page."

"Do you think she's hurt?"

"That or she's working for the bad guys. I'm hoping it's not the later."

Cutter and Sully quickened their pace, turning down a final hall, coming to the corner of the building. "Finally," Cutter said, an eager smile on his face as he looked at the rubble of rocks, looking as if some part of the building collapsed a long time ago. The two moved through the rocks quickly, finally clearing a hole, Cutter climbing up and into the hole. "It's not very big. Hope you're not claustrophobic. It does seem to extend quite a bit though. Care to have a looksee?"

"Ladies first."

Cutter wriggled his way up into the tunnel, Sully giving Cutter a moment to get ahead. He hoisted himself up the tall ledge, pulling himself into the tunnel. He crawled on his stomach, the air stale and thick. Within moments his tongue felt coated with dirt, feeling underprepared for this journey. They crawled along, the tunnel never varying in size, the dirt fading to stone, only slightly uncomfortable against his knees and chest. "I'm surprised it's still going," Cutter called back, Sully smiling.

"It's a damn good sign. Don't jinx it yet."

They finally came to another blocked off entrance, Cutter pushing against it and smashing the butt of the gun against the wall. He broke a piece out, finally getting a hole big enough for them to crawl through. Cutter fell out, Sully following into the sudden bright light. Cutter quickly helped him stand up and pulled him away, Sully taking note of the tile walls, the surprising amount of people not around, though some were watching them and looking at the hole they came out. He caught sight of a blue sign, Cutter pulling him up the stairs.

"So the tunnel leads to the S-bahn. That's interesting." Sully pulled his arm from Cutter's grip, straightening his shirt.

"I wonder how long until someone investigates the hole. That tunnel was hardly stable. We're lucky as is. So, shall we head back to the hotel, collaborate, and figure out what to do from here? I need some sort of plan if I'm going to dapple in shit as risky as this."

Sully watched Cutter shake dirt off of his shirt and jeans, Sully lighting the rest of his cigar. "Trust me, I'm no stallion anymore. The less banging and dragging my body goes through, the happier I am. On our way back, let's drive by Lorraine's home. I'll be damned if a good friend double crosses me."

Cutter glanced at Sully, giving a quick nod.

/\/\/\~~

Ears buzzing, mouth thick, eyes sticky, Nathan had a hell of a hangover. He couldn't remember what happened the prior night, but he was beginning to regret it. He tried rolling into a sitting position, grimacing as his face and chest began stinging. He groaned, attempting to crack his eyes. Sunlight flooded over him though, not helping him get moving.

He felt weak, confused, sore, unable to care where he had landed this time. The floor was rough—that much of his sensations were intact. He brushed his hands over his face, fingers feeling full of grit. He let his breath out as his sandpaper fingers rubbed his weak eyes. This was going to be harder than he expected.

He finally cracked his eyes open, slowly pushing himself into standing, taking in the room he was shoved in. It looked like a garage made out of cement, bare except for some windows towards the top of the walls, two windows on each wall right below the ceiling. He noticed there were no tables or tools, no chairs, benches, or storage containers. Besides the chain holding him to the floor with a giant nail, the closest thing was a door about twenty feet away.

He checked the floor, not finding much blood. Looking at his hands and clothes, he was layered in the gunk. He slowly sat back down, unsure when someone would check if he was alive. He laid against the cement, trying to adjust to the outside light. It was enough to tell him it was early afternoon. He felt unattached to his body, a feeling that was slowly becoming more and more unnerving. He closed his eyes once more, knowing the people would come again. They said they needed him after all.

After a while he registered the door grating against the floor, causing him to sit up anxiously. He was pretty thirsty, though food wasn't a bad idea either. He saw three men walking towards him, Nate standing, unaware who it was. "What's going on?" he asked, voice dry. He tried swallowing, but knew it wasn't going to be much help.

"Mr. Drake," the man in front began, a spark of memory trying to flicker, "I'm honestly surprised you're still alive. Judging by how much blood is covering you, you should be surprised also. Thankful, perhaps. Mr. Flynn has admitted to three times poisoning you now, so he will no longer hold any sort of serum for you. Instead, we're going to have some one on one time. Sound good?"

Nathan stared at the man, trying to remember. He remembered punching a man, something prodded him. He had found a brown bottle, and there were a lot of papers. "What's going on?"

The man cracked his fingers, one of the men behind him handing him a pair of black gloves. "Well, your disobedience is one thing. Your emotions are becoming out of control again. Punching an agent, even if it is Flynn? Hardly acceptable. I thought we reached some sort of agreement before, but you must have forgotten. So, now, we have the real deal with the rats, we're going to make it dark, and I have the honor of playing a game with you, while you're sober. If you do well, I'll give you some food and water. You fail, and we'll try again tomorrow. It's only been two days. You have a few more before your body gives out."

The man walked closer, Nathan finally having a clear look at his face. His breath caught as he realized he needed to get away from Axel Keller. This hadn't gone well any other time. Nate back up as far as chain would allow him, grateful he had his hands free.

"Come now, Mr. Drake. No need to make this harder on yourself."

The two men stayed at the edge of his boundary, having no need to worry about Nate. "These have never gone well. I would like to keep my distance, thanks."

"Just stop moving around and hear me out."

"Your bite is worse than your bark, so I'll pass, again. Not my fault I don't have the best of luck."

"Your ability to fulfil your work is outstanding," Keller paused in stalking Nathan's parameter. He held out his arms, giving a short laugh. "We're two months ahead, at least! All because of your notes and ideas. How the hell can I argue with that? But you, the man himself," Keller rubbed his hand through his hair, bringing his finger up, pointing aggressively at Nathan, "Can't follow some simple, fucking orders. I don't get it!" Keller dropped his arms, beginning to pace. "And then, there's I think, your god damn friends out in Germany, working their own angle, and now there're dead associates!" Keller, throwing his hands back into the air, still pacing, was becoming hysterical. Nathan didn't want to move, worried what might happen to him. He didn't know any friends that would be working on finding his treasure. Only Sully was out there.

"Seriously Drake, what do I have to do to get you to cooperate with me? It can't be that fucking hard. Like I said, the sooner we find the treasure, the sooner you will go back to your miserable life. What's so hard about that? I give you access to some of the best researchers, support whatever needs you'll come across. What's so hard about that? Huh? _What's so hard about that?_ " Keller finally came close enough to land a punch across Nathan's face, the brunette able to stop the next one. Keller grinned, twisting and pulling his arm from Nathan's grip, swinging his left fist up, knocking Nathan to the floor.

Nathan felt a slam across his chest from Keller's leg. He lost his breath, able to look up and stop the next hit. He tried rolling and standing up, Keller snapping his fingers twice. Something landed on the ground as Nate was kicked again, landing flat again, becoming covered in the bits of the product. He quickly stood back up, Keller smiling and jumping away, next, Nathan hearing a sound, quiet, but quickly growing. He heard the pitch change, a little flutter catching the edge of the sunlight around him. He watched his feet, at least comfortable having his boots on. The pitch climbed, finally the hoard coming into the light. The furry critters squeaked and crawled over each other, Nathan unable to move much without stepping on them. They eagerly ate the crumbs on the ground, Nathan next realizing he had some covering his clothes. He yelled as they tried to swarm up him, wanting that last taste.

Nathan swung and knocked them down, stomping and kicking them as hard as he could, any in his hands being thrown, cracks of broken bones and squeaks of scared rats filling the room. Finally, the sound dissipated, Nathan breathing hard, not wanting to rest his hands on his pants or shirt. "What the hell was that?"

"Just the first effect of your fears. Now, you get to lay with the bodies. I'll be back in a while. I don't think you'll be able to stand for that long. Once you become comfortable with the blood and furry creatures, I may have a treat for you. Now, gentlemen, please shorten Mr. Drake's leash."

Keller walked away, the two men walking closer. One wrapped Nate's arms behind his back, holding tight. The other man grabbed the lock and the links, separating it and grabbing the slack. Nathan leaned back and kicked up, smashing the guys face with his boots. He pulled down and forward, breaking an arm free from the second guard. He punched the guy once in the face, able to deliver a roundhouse kick to the first guard, who was coming back at him. Nathan spun, pulling his other arm free, quickly punching the second guard across the throat and chest, repeating the same back to the first guard. As soon as they hit the ground, he found the keys to unlock his ankle brace, grabbed their guns and ammo, even a knife. Tucking it all away, keeping one gun out, he slipped to the side door, holding his breath.

He cracked the door open, seeing no one, sneaking out and across the afternoon sun. It was slowly getting colder, but he wanted to escape from this hell hole. There wasn't much property barrier as the complex in the states, Nathan taking advantage and booking it across into the vegetation, not worried about much. History was coming to repeat itself. He had survived in South America before. He had managed to escape from a Panamanian jail. He could do it all again.

He kept to a light jog as the sun slipped away, coming across a few homes, avoiding anyone for now. He'd be able to survive off the land for a little bit, keep himself safe from being seen, and able to find places for cover. He kept on pace until well after the sun had set, the weather beginning to chill quickly. Steam rose from his body, exertion on the rise as he wanted to lie down and sleep. _Not yet, not yet... Try to work on finding something to drink and eat, and I'll try to rest in the morning, when I know it's safe. You can do this._

The land was wide open, hardly changing. Trees happened to hide the area where he was confined, but once he left the property everything turned into dirt and dead grass. He kept his eyes out for certain plants, occasionally seeing the white flower of the wood sorrel, a plant worth eating. He stayed away from the road, running west, looking for any ditches, trees, water areas. Finally his legs gave out on him, Nate dropping fast and landing hard on his front, groaning as his muscles seemed to pulse and scream. He rolled onto his back, trying to take even breaths.

This was going to be harder than just about anything he's had to deal with so far. It was a bit easier in Cartagena though, the decent sized city, always welcomed with travelers of all kinds. Out exploring, he always tried to keep the basic of items, at least some water, but this time he was at the mercy of the land.

His heart began to calm, Nathan having a hard time opening his eyes. He was content on the ground, cold only nipping his exposed skin. The rest of him was comfortably warm. He laid the back of his hand on his forehead, keeping his eyes closed. He could take a short nap. He needed it.

A rumbling was vibrating through the ground, causing Nate to stir. He gave a small shiver, pushing himself up enough to scope the landscape. He was exhausted still, but his muscles felt a little more relaxed. A light was bouncing in the distance, Nathan groaning before pushing himself up and running, keeping himself as low as he could. He pushed a little more north, still trying to head west.

Lights flashed over him, Nathan standing full height and running as fast as he could. He couldn't outrun the vehicle, but maybe he could find a place to hide. "Why does this always happen to me?" he muttered, keeping his eye out for holes in the ground. Lights lit his path, bullets flying past, shot wide. He hoped they were just trying to scare him. He wasn't going to shoot just yet... He was going to fight for his life if he had to.

The vehicle finally pulled in front of him, an old hummer, Nathan pulling his gun, the passenger getting out.

"Get in, we don't have much time."

Nate lowered his gun a little, wondering what Flynn was going on about. "No thanks. I think I'll wait for the next taxi."

Flynn pinched the bridge of his nose, Nathan catching the brief bruising from the last punch. "Look mate, I'm trying to be the good guy right now. If you won't take this opportunity, I'm going to have to hurt you and take you back to Axel. Or, you can get in the damn truck, sit down and shut up. We have a few hours until the next destination."

Nathan looked around, beginning to hear other vehicles. "What's in it for me? How do I know you're not lying?"

Flynn laughed, spreading his arms open. "Do you not see where you are, let alone the lack of supplies on you? No more shots and retaining your memory is what is in it for you. Now get in the truck, and let's get the hell out of here."

"Ah, hell," Nathan finally muttered, getting into the back of the vehicle.

"Hi Nathan!"

Nathan jumped, looking at Nora, sitting in the back also. "Umm, hi Nora. What are you doing here?" He looked back at Flynn, who seemed very preoccupied suddenly with the map.

"We're doing field work! Harry swept me away yesterday evening, kidnapping me and all of my notes. He was the dashing villain, tying up Jacob and Cindy in the back room. It really was an experience. I've never been on the bad guy's team before."

Nate looked back at Flynn, raising an eyebrow, then realized Daly was driving the vehicle. "Body guard! Why are you here too?"

"That's my job."

"On whose orders? What the hell is going on here?" Nathan looked back at Nora. "We're not the bad guys. Those two, yes, us, not so much. You're just a researcher and I'm just a—"

"A thief, Drake. You're nothing more than a bloody thief, just like the rest of us," Flynn piped up, putting the map down. "I'm not doing this on your behalf. I'm not looking to becoming buddy-buddy, and frankly you're about the worst partner there is to work with."

"I think he's brilliant," Nora piped up, Nate giving her a warm smile.

"Yeah, don't we all. Look, we have a chance of doing this by ourselves, at a much quicker pace. No more drugs, no more Keller unless he finds us, and the only thing that we have to do is stay under the radar, and we'll be peachy."

Nathan leaned back, feeling how tired his muscles were. "Sounds great. At least you have a plan for the moment."

"Until Keller finds us, yes. After that, _you_ think of something. You've dodged him more than a whole lot of anyone else."

"Having my room blown in is not 'dodging' him. Having been put under his fists is not 'dodging' him. Being a test subject for his stupid serums is not 'dodging' him. Thanks for your vote of confidence, but I'd rather get into a fight with a pack of wolves."

Nathan shut his eyes, letting a slow breath out. He was exhausted, he was letting his anger get the better of him. Before he could open his mouth, Nora asked, "Why? Why would he do all those things? He's a good guy, I mean, he's always been respectful, and open minded though focused, he's funded this whole thing from his pocket!"

Nathan waited a moment to see if Flynn would answer, being she was all smitten with the blonde boy wonder. Keeping his eyes closed, he gave a small grin as Flynn finally answered. "Not everything is as it seems, Nora." His voice was calm, smoothing. "Axel has gotten to where he is through...methodical steps. He has taken those who he knows can get the job done. Everyone he's hired has either been recruited, like me and Daly, or forced under his fist, like Mr. Drake here. Axel dishes out respect only where he believes it is deserved."

"Wow... That's...unbelievable. I love working for him."

"Let's trade jobs for a day and see how you feel after that," Nate said softly. "You saw what happened after these pricks shot the serum crap into me. Now, have that done to you for..." Nate cracked an eye open. "How long have I been in your clutches now?" Flynn didn't reply. "Anyway, I'm drained, mentally and physically. If I'm not all dopey, then I'm probably getting the shit beat out of me or unconscious. It's been a great trip so far."

"Harry, is this, is this..." Nora's voice rose a pitch, Nathan imagining all of her aspirations and principles collapsing.

"Yes Nora, it's true. That's why I did what I did back at your place. Makes me look like the rogue agent, and you're just the damsel in distress."

"Wow," was all she said, Nathan welcoming the silence. He didn't want to remember anything that has happened so far. As long as they had Nora's papers, Nate was pretty sure he could lead them to the treasure if it was indeed down here in Argentina. He just hoped Sully was having a better time than he was.

A light flicked on right as Nate was about to fall asleep, causing him to flinch and try to turn it off. "Hold still Drake," he heard Flynn say. "Nora, can you reach the bag in the back, please? It's brown with tan handles."

Nate opened his eyes, noticing Daly was driving on an actual road, passing through a small town. Nora found the bag and handed it to Flynn, who dug through it, tossing random things to Nathan. There was a water bottle and some snacks, and towels for the dirt covering him. "We have a bit of time. Clean up and all before you decide to pass out. While you do that, listen to what we have to say. In due time we'll get to our next checkpoint in the journey and continue from there. From here on out, it's staying ahead of Keller. We can try to get in touch with your colleagues, let them know about Keller too."

Nathan grabbed the water bottle. "Partners, colleagues, why is everything plural? There's only one."

"Some things happened back in Germany, Berlin to be more precise," Flynn started, Nate giving a small groan of relief as he drank eagerly. "Quiet down, you. Three guys mysteriously ended up dead in Templehof Airport, second floor underground. Obtaining some footage from surrounding areas, two men were seen in the subway, breaking a hole out of a wall. The tunnel was inspected, thus becoming a new discovery. These are the two men."

Munching on some dried fruit, Nate took a picture from Flynn, wanting the light off quick. It was black and white, the time stamp a little before ten in the evening. He looked back at Flynn and back down, unable to believe that Sully had managed to contact Cutter... "And you don't know more than that?"

Flynn shrugged, taking the photo away and turning the light back off. "So, those are your partners. From here on, we're staying in Argentina. Let your friends do what they want, look for what they want. We are going to follow your and Nora's notes, and just try to find the quickest route to the goods. It's not that hard, right?"

Nathan rolled his eyes, chewing some crackers. "I doubt it. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy."

"I'm aware. From here, we're heading to Bariloche, so we have quite a few hours before we're there. There's a few people we can question there, and then move on, to Misiones Province, where I think we're going to have a bit more luck. It's going to be about two days drive to get there, so we're going to be camping out. The less funds that Axel is able to track, the easier it'll be from there."

"I don't remember any of the notes I wrote out for you, so either I'm going to have to read them all again, or you're going to have to fly blind on this."

"We're not going to fly blind. You will have more than enough time to go over them again. Don't worry. From there, I think we'll be plenty ahead of Axel, and we don't have to worry too much more from him until he catches up. He only moves when his players are in the right position. We're the main pieces on the chess board, so he'll be blind for a bit. As long as there isn't a paper trail, we'll be able to stay ahead of him."

"You're pretty confident about this," Nathan stated, not enjoying how long this was going to be.

"Well, that's the plan for now. Come up with something better and you can happily be the captain."

Nathan laughed, straightening up and making a little trash bag for himself. "I'll pass for now. I don't like this country. I'll happily help, but the sooner we get out of here, still isn't soon enough for me." Nathan had a small fear they'd be landing back in Cartagena. He wasn't worried that any of his crimes would catch up with him now, but revisiting the place where Sully saved his life, he didn't want to relive any of those memories. He gathered the ring he wanted, and that was good enough to shut down any reason for going back.

Flynn faced forward again. "We'll be to Bariloche soon enough. Get some sleep. It'll still be dark when we get there, so we'll hunker down in the car for now. Sorry lady and gents, this is going to be our temporary home-transportation vehicle. Best get used to it now."

* * *

Huuuummmppp daaayyy! Almost. But not for me since I just play stay at home mom anyway. Enjoy thhiiissss! I have like, 5 ways I want to take the story, but they're all boring. I'm praying this is going to lead to the right track. Enjoy, I'll try to update soon. (Fingers crossed)


	8. The Ghost of Hitler's Path

**Chapter 8**

"Lorraine! Open up!" Sully hit the door again, not caring about the other houses nearby. All the better, actually, if they heard him. "Lorraine! It's not that late, get up!"

Cutter was walking the perimeter, checking for anything out of place. Sully tried looking through the door, but everything was dark. All of the flood lights were off, as well as the one above the door. Sully had a bad feeling, Cutter finally coming back. "Back door's locked, but it's easy to open. She didn't put the pole against the door. House doesn't even look like it has security on."

"Then let's get the god damn door open," Sully growled, leading the way. Sully had the door open almost right away, carefully stepping through the door frame, listening for any other intruders. Gun sturdy in his hand, he and Cutter carefully entered the home, giving a careful sweep. Lorraine was nowhere to be found. Sully turned on a few lights, heading to her desk and looking around for the original blueprints that she had shown him.

He pulled open a drawer, seeing an envelope with his initials in a cursive scrawl. He carefully opened it, quickly reading through the letter, Cutter keeping quiet for the moment. "She's gone," Sully finally muttered, handing the letter to Charlie. "She went to Argentina to work with Keller."

"But she doesn't even believe in the treasure," Cutter mumbled, reading through quickly.

"Hard to say now. If Keller is offering her a lot of damn money, then she may be swayed."

"Well, as least she knows she's working with our enemy," Cutter said, handing the letter back. "Let's get some grub and head back to the room, shall we? We have a bit to plan out now, since the sources are disappearing to Argentina left and right."

They locked up her house, leaving quickly. Cutter drove back to the hotel, Sully lost to his thoughts.

 _I'm sorry, Victor. I have been asked to leave the country and fly south as soon as possible. Don't come after me, as I don't believe what this man wants is in a green forest. I think your trail is much warmer. Remember what I just talked to you about, and keep your nose around Germany. I don't know this Axel Keller, but I hope your brain and ghost accomplice can find something soon. I'll be back as soon as I can._

He wanted to read the letter again, but it was too dark. He was tired, frustrated, beginning to feel like he was in a little too deep. _We need to get a hold of Nate. I need to know what's going on. I can't keep up with these little bits of information. We need a solid path to start with._

After a quick dinner run, the two silently went up to their room, Victor pulling out the maps and the notes they got from Lorraine. He started making X's across the map, circling others. He completely scribbled out Argentina. "What if we need to see something down there when Drake calls us?"

"As far as I'm concerned, the god damn country doesn't exist. Nothing good has come from there after I left with Nate years ago."

"All right, I don't know anything about your past, forgive me, but at the moment, it might be useful to at least have an idea of where Drake or Lorraine might be headed."

Sully had his palms pressing against the table over the map. He kept his head down, feeling like he was being backed into a corner. He didn't know where to go. There weren't any clues. They didn't have the apparent money that Keller possessed. "I don't care where they're headed. That's all another path. What we have to work with is right here in front of us. We need to find a contact to talk to, we need books, an outline, files of some sort to look through." He glanced back at the country in black, then to the red scribbles outlining Europe. "We need to focus over here, if you're still with me on this."

He heard Cutter shift, the soft steps coming closer to him. "Look mate, you need to eat and take a short break so you can get your head on straight. Then we can start tackling this one country at a time. I might know a person or two who can probably give us a slight bit of a lead. It's late and we can't do anything else until the morning. Eat, take another look at the map, and then we should get some sleep before taking another stab in the dark. How about that for a game plan?"

Sully finally relaxed, bringing his hands off the table and looking back at Cutter. "Thanks for not dipping out on me. It's only been a day down here and already things are flying crazy. I don't know how Keller got his hands on Lorraine, but I need to know why. Maybe something happened to Nate, and he needs to call in back up."

"Or, maybe Keller needs another set of eyes. You never know."

Sully focused on Cutter's deep green eyes, pointing a finger at him. "You don't know what the hell I saw, so my anger isn't directed at you. When I last saw Nate, he was on something, listening to an old accomplice who was likely bought out by this Axel Keller. Imagine yourself suddenly turning on your father and a nemesis of yours is pointing a gun at your father while you steal from right in front of him. But, you can't help yourself. You're unable to disobey the orders of your nemesis. That's what I'm worried about for Lorraine."

Charlie didn't break contact, but his breathing spiked. The room was silent for a moment, the smell of the fries and burgers settling its scent throughout the room. Finally, Cutter tilted his head slightly to the left, turning away, walking to the balcony and sliding door. "All right, I can see how dedicated you are to these people. This is like a huge undercover operation, almost. I mean, it's all fair game, but what this man is doing to get people to join him is unbelievable. Either buying them out, or doping them up. Doesn't seem fair. I'm with you on this mate, I won't back out. My curiosity is peaked."

Sully slowly released his breath, counting to ten before turning and grabbing their food. Lorraine was a good girl, she'd comply with Keller, especially because she didn't believe in the 'trophies.' Sully was sure if Keller asked her questions, then she would simply answer with a "if you believe in that type of thing, of course."

They ate in a peaceful quiet, the news on in the background. Sully went back to the maps as soon as he was finished, looking at each of the countries. They didn't have any specific locations, but they had at least a vague idea. "Any of your contacts familiar with Spain?" Sully asked, eyeing a few places along the coast.

"Off the top of my head, no. Nor do I know enough Spanish to get by."

"I know enough. Do you think anyone can give us a clue to someone down there?"

Cutter sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin. He grabbed his phone, flipping through, shaking his head now and again. "Maybe. Those few I mentioned earlier, one of them has a wide variety of acquaintances, and he may be able to land us a small idea. This is why no one I guess has tried to chase the phantom treasure. There are too many dead ends."

"The trail's not dead. Otherwise none of this would be happening." He thought back to everything he had learned early in the Navy and World War Two. "The allies were in control at the end of the war." He looked back to the X's across the countries. "Hitler was trapped. There were Brits up north, Americans in Africa, on top of the Red Army coming from the east. Everyone wanted him dead. But yet, they didn't have a large showing of his body or proof of his death."

"Yes, true," Cutter said, his right arm hanging over the back of the chair, left foot balanced on his leg. He rubbed his thumb across his chin, watching Sully. "Surprise me with something I don't know."

"But that's just the thing! You're the god damn historian! This is why I need Nate! He just sees the puzzle and can work it out. I teach him how to control himself so he doesn't end up dead on the way to the job. We work everything out together, unless something comes up that we need to take care of on our own time. Nate's the reader, I'm the gunman."

"May I have a word then with these papers at the table that you've been hogging since we got this room?"

Sully gestured to the table, taking the chair and lighting his cigar. Cutter looked at the papers, making lines and circles, redoing some of the X's. "Don't you ever touch a map with a marker again. _Pencil,_ lad. At least pencil erases." After a few more minutes, he started agreeing with himself, nodding, pointing and sliding his finger around, occasionally tapping South America rather aggressively. Sully had a slight idea the brash taps were because the country was completely soaked in ink.

"Okay, all right, I think I have a better idea than I expected. Okay. So, you know whatever I explained to you when we first met, and then what Lorraine told us. That's the gist of the whole picture, but what we're looking for is the _trail_. We can't afford to fly off to whatever country calls us with an inkle of a chance. So, planes." He raised his shoulders, dropping them in a 'easy, see?' manner.

"Yes, planes. I have one, Hitler had a lot, they're really good with transportation."

"Well done. Gold star. No, _planes._ Hitler could only travel to places where he could land his plane. Just because he can fly doesn't mean he can land. He needed to go to countries where he had sway over the airports and air control. What attacks have there been during the war, where suddenly an airport was taken over by Nazis, or, what of just a lot of people were mysteriously killed on their way to work at the airport, or spies, or _something._ Get it? Planes?"

"All right, so we need to look out further into these countries to see who followed the Germans. Being it was the day before Germany surrendered, this was kind of a last stand. Everything was in turmoil. Many people didn't know who to trust, everything was upside down. So what, a group of eight people are helping Hitler leave. In the dark I'm sure, because everything is easier at nighttime, you have two pilots at most and Hitler, maybe his wife and a close advisor. Maybe. You fly out, have three, four people working the landing area. You just need to knock out air control for a little bit, have a code to communicate in case anyone else is listening or the com is being recorded."

" _Exactly!_ So, looking at these countries, there aren't many options. A rumor is Denmark, but I don't think his treasure or clues are up there." He pointed his finger at the map though. "But if it is, bloody right I'm going to be pissed. Spain, Spain is where we should focus. It's large, beautiful. Maybe we can try to look up old airports associated with Nazi Germany and try to land there, look for any clues. Which end of Spain he may have gone to is the question. From there, depending on what we find, he could have left on a different plane, already scheduled to head out and all that, to help lose his trail. Or, Spain is next to the sea, how much you want to bet Hitler was not apt to claustrophobia?"

Sully smiled, ashed his cigar, meeting Cutter's eye. "I like where this is heading. All right, we can do this. Spain it is. Now I can rest. We can look up more history tomorrow and head out. Thank you."

"Told ya mate, just calm down and breathe. We'll get your friend and the treasure, and make out with the beautiful lady." Cutter smiled, then dropped, Sully evening out his face. "No, I mean, not make out, like, no, not that way, like, we're making out with all the good things, we win, save the day, you know?"

"I'm just messing with you." Sully stood, feeling a little more relaxed than he had in a long while. "Good night, Cutter."

/\/\/\~~

" _Come on tough guy, show me what you got."_

 _Nathan had a crooked smile on his face, arms up in defense. "Bring it, big boy, don't let my size deceive you."_

 _The man came at him, Nathan ducking under the arm stretching out, quickly turning and taking a step back, before closing the distance, using the man's forward momentum to shove him down. The crowd cheered, Nathan quickly landing two blows on the side of the guy's face, trying to break his zygomatic. If he was able to break it, he hoped the man's eye would fall out of his socket. The man stood up, dropping Nathan onto his back. Nathan saw the leg coming down, quickly rolling to the left onto his stomach and standing back up, raising his arms again._

 _He tried to drown the crowd out. He didn't know how long he had before the guards came. The man laughed. "You're a quick little boy, aren't you? Do you need to catch your breath before we continue?"_

" _Bring it, jackass."_

 _Nathan made the first move, rushing at the guy, taking a quick step to the right and swinging his upper body, but the man's fist landed across his jaw. He stumbled but held his balance, seeing the man step closer for another hit. Nathan rushed at him, head-butting his stomach, dragging them both to the ground. Nathan planted his knees tight against the older man's abdomen, and tried going for the man's face again. His arms though were shorter than his rival's, making it hard to actually land a blow without being hit as well. The man squirmed, trying to shift Nate, but the boy wouldn't break hold. Nathan caught an arm, trying to twist the wrist to break it._

" _Is this what you're trying to do?" The man caught Nathan's arm, quickly pulling and twisting, Nathan letting out a short scream of pain, the man shoving Nathan off of him. On his back once more, the man walked up his side, spitting on him. "You're nothing more than a play toy. Remember that. Good luck with the arm in this prison. Guards don't care for injuries. Maybe they will cus you're a kid, but, we'll see."_

 _Nathan heard yelling, felt a foot placed under his back, the leg lifting and pushing him, Nate rolling onto his wrist and front. Hands grabbed his shirt and lifted him up, issues being ordered to prisoners and guards. He heard solitary, causing him to groan. He was relieved though. The men couldn't bother him in solitary. A few had tried to approach him and get him into their gang or other activities, most of them nowhere beneficial on Nathan's part. He had managed to slip through their fingers, learning that fights got him locked away. He didn't know how long his sentence was, but this couldn't make it any worse. Sully would come up with something._

 _He was brought up to a metal door, a guard letting go of his arm and inspecting his wrist. Not caring to pay attention, Nathan waited silently until they finished talking about what to do with his wrist and punishment. The door was finally opened, Nathan stepping through, the guard pointing to his wrist, then Nathan's, holding up his first finger before shutting the door._

 _Nathan sighed, a little bit of sunlight coming through an open vent towards the top of the room. Nathan sat on his small bed, barely large enough for him. It was a few inches off the floor, simple board frame and a thin as paper mattress. A hole-filled blanket was folded at the end. He lifted his feet off the floor and crossed his legs, taking careful note of the floor. He didn't see any of the furry creatures yet. Some cells had the rats, others didn't. He hadn't been in this room before, and he still didn't know how long he was stuck. He hoped longer than a week._

 _The door grated open, the guards coming back with wraps and splints. One of the guards had a medical symbol on his chest, Nathan giving a slight sigh of relief. At least one of them had a slight idea what to do. The man looked at his wrist, felt it, moved it, basing where it was broken and how bad on Nathan's reactions. Breathing hard, sweat beading the teen's brow, the man instructed the other guard how to hold while the man adjusted the right placement for his wrist before aggressively wrapping it up. Nathan tried not to move, but he was repeatedly banging his knee against the wall, trying to hold back his screams of pain. Finally the men left, the guard telling him he had a week in the room. Breathing hard, sweat and tears pouring down his face, he laid on the bed, dozing in and out, about to pass out when a scuttle across the floor drew his attention._

 _Sitting up he scoured the small room, already darker than before. His breathing pitched, wondering where the furry monsters were hiding. His screams probably drew their curiosity. He finally caught a peek of one, swinging his foot and kicking it away. He felt a claw touch his hand, Nathan jumping up, swinging the rat at the wall. With a crunch, he hoped the skull had smashed, instead of the ribs or legs. He didn't see any others, but he knew they were there._

"Nathan... Nathan... Nathan..."

Nate grabbed his head, groaning, breathing hard. He blinked, quickly swinging his arm up and out, knocking the other person's arm away. He was about to swing again when his arm was grabbed and pulled down, Nathan blinking again, trying to register what was going on.

"Morning sweetheart, having a bad dream?"

Nathan looked at the man in front of him, then to the side, trying to calm his breath. "Sorry, I, I, yeah, a bad dream. Sure." He looked at Nora, giving a sheepish smile, pulling his arm back. "Where are we?"

"San Carlos de Bariloche. We have finally arrived."

"I thought you said we were going to get here earlier? Why is the sun up?"

"Harry misread the map," Nora said, smiling. "He was off by a few hundred miles."

The man turned frontward, Daly pulling into a parking spot of what looked to be a small motel. "Wow, how do you feel about that Daly?" Nate asked, leaning forward and clapping a hand on Flynn's shoulder. "This man can read a journal but yet he can't read a map? How did you manage to be hired, Flynn?"

"So what, everyone makes mistakes. We're going to stay here for a short bit, get our notes organized, and head on out. We have enough cash for now to not leave a paper trail, but the goal is to get as far ahead of Keller as possible."

"Great. I need to make a phone call."

They unloaded from the truck, taking their things into the small room, a bed in the center, the tables and TV looking about as old as Nate. They brought in their things, beginning to organize, Nathan walking up to Flynn. "I need your phone."

"No."

Nate met Flynn's eyes, cool demeanor flaring between the two. "Yes. I need to get in touch with Sully. He needs to know I'm alive, and I need to know what's going on with him. You ripped me away from him, and if you want any progress made quickly so we can maintain our lead, I need to talk to him right now."

Flynn looked at him for a moment before handing the phone over. "Do what you need, but make it quick. I can't have you blabbing on it for hours."

"Don't worry," Nate muttered, stepping outside and completing the process for Sully. He just hoped the man wasn't in the air flying. "Come on, come on..."

"Sullivan here."

"Sully! Oh man it's great to hear your voice again."

"Nate? What the hell's going on? Where the hell are you, kid? Are you okay?"

"It's been quite the trip so far, not in my top five. We just got into Bariloche. I don't know what we're doing at the moment, because the treasure's not here. I do happen to have all the notes you're going to need for whatever your next plans are."

"Yeah? I have Charlie working with me and we're going to Spain. What can you tell us to help us out? God dammit Nate, what the hell happened to you? I didn't think you were alive. We found out about the man—Axel Keller."

"Charlie? You managed to get ahold of him? That's great! I don't even wanna know how you found out Keller's name, but great! That makes the story a little quicker, besides the parts I don't remember. Right now I'm with Flynn, a body guard, and this researcher who's helping me with Hitler's trail. Got myself out of Keller's clutches, and now I'm in Flynn's. At least he's safer company. We're going to continue trekking north through South America."

"Don't lose your head in this. Remember you're not alone. What can you tell me about which way I should be going? We're at a dead end."

Nate stepped back into the room, heading to the stash of notes, recognizing how he had them organized. "Let's see... I'm assuming Cutter knew about the way to Spain? That's good. You're going to need to head to Galicia. There was the man, Fancisco Franco—"

"Franco, yeah, I've heard of him."

"Great. Well, he has a summer retreat out there. It's large, enforced, and a very likely spot Hitler would have gone there. There are reports of thousands of dollars heading there from hard to trace sources, but most were banks under the Nazi's controls. You know Franco had a great time rising in his power and controlling as many sources as possible. If there's _any_ clues, that's going to be the first place to look. There's report of German's being buried in cemeteries, and then, there's a monastery..." Nate flipped through the notes, trying to speed through his handwriting. "The Samos Monastery. There was a monk there who was close to Franco, maybe they disguised Hitler on his way out."

"Wait, wait, wait, your reports actually hold that information?" Cutter cut in, Nate assuming the phone was on speaker.

"Yeah, actually. It's CIA, FBI, papers and reports from multiple countries."

"No wonder the bloke wants you. You stole all his info. And researcher."

"What about the journal? Has that resurfaced yet?" Sully asked, cutting back in.

Nate could hear Cutter grumbling in the background. "No, not yet. Something must be important if Keller is still holding on it. I haven't seen it since...well, you. Keep a tight hold on mine."

"You know me. So, if these two places are a fluke, where too next?"

Nate continued explaining the routes and paths to Sully, a little bit of his memory coming back to surface. Daly and Nora were silent, Flynn occasionally tapping his wrist or snapping his fingers to get Nate's attention. Nate finally finished up the phone conversation, Sully letting him know about his friend Lorraine and how she could probably help Keller just as well as Nate could.

"Great, so we better hurry. I'll keep in touch with you. Good luck."

"You too kid, watch your back."

Nate finally handed the phone back to Flynn, the blonde staring him down. "I said keep it short."

"I did. I haven't spoken with him for a long time. And Keller isn't as far behind us as I thought. He has a new researcher to help him. It looks like we've been replaced."

"What about me?" Nora piped up, looking nervous.

"You're fine. Remember, you're the captive right now. Keller will be coming for you. What we need to do is look at few maps and plan out where we're going. Flynn, go find some please. And string and some tacks. We need to work fast. You and Daly then can rest up the best you can, while Nora and I build a timeline and road map. We're not finished here yet. There's a reason Keller wants to be here, and I intend to find out."

"Good, I locate the temporary home base and you're already throwing out plans."

"You told me to come up with a plan. I'm working on it."

"Improvising is not going to get us very far."

Nate gave him a smile, grabbing the one map Flynn was looking at earlier. Flynn walked out, Daly getting comfy. Nora and him pulled everything out for Argentina, carefully building a route. When Flynn finally returned, Nora was pacing back and forth, holding two pages of a report, switching to a third. Flynn set down the maps, Nathan eagerly pulling them out and lining them up, eyeing the bigger maps for a moment, before some of the papers and laying them out.

"Have you figured out those two pages yet," Nathan asked, looking up at Nora.

"Yes, I believe so, but I'm still trying to find out why it seems important. This house is in the middle of nowhere, out on the edge of a cove. Trees completely surround the place. It looks like no one even lives there, but if they do, it's only accessible by boat or rough terrain. I don't believe it's necessary, but it's totally intriguing."

"So what do we know?" Flynn asked as he sat down on the bed, propping his feet.

"What do you want to know? It's all here. Pick a point where you want to start," Nathan replied, leading strings over the countries.

"Where are we going to end up?"

"Right...about...here." He pointed to the lines, a smile wide across his face. "All these lines, they lead to cities that I believe are areas where Hitler tried to develop the fourth reich and tried to rebuild Hitler's youth. It all leads to the middle of the jungle, up here by Misiones."

"So we're going to travel _across_ Argentina to get to...what? A jungle? South America _is_ a jungle."

"We'll have to see what we find up there. A lot of these papers cover the possible path that Hitler took. Reports of who might have seen him, who might have helped him out. But, if we're going to find anything, it's going to be in this area. The question is, should we shoot straight there, or poke around at each stop and try to figure out _why_ he wanted to head north, and _why_ he started so far south to have to come so far north, most likely on foot, maybe horse or donkey if they found it. They would've had to travel by night or by cover."

"So it looks like you're uncovering more questions than answers."

"Hence, are we going to jump straight to the point, or are we going to look for the answers along the way?"

Flynn leaned back, stretching. "Let's look for the answers. We better get kickin' it before Axel finds us."

"Not to worry..." Nathan went back to the notes, Nora helping translate the different languages, a silence overcoming the room causing Nathan to finally peek over his shoulder, Flynn and Daly sleeping where they were. Smirking, he looked back at the paper Nora was holding, reading the decipher. ' _Police report a number of children missing since January 1_ _st_ _, 1946. Thirteen new cases have alone occurred in the last month. Account has not been taken for other towns along the Andes.'_ Nathan looked up at Nora, then back at the paper. "Do you think there was any success in the children still being a part of this now?"

"I haven't found anything yet that suggests it. It very well could have been an attempt at reforming."

"We need to get to these cities and ask around. That's our best option right now, especially in finding out how much influence Hitler may have had on these people. If they are escaped Nazi's from Germany, then they definitely would've tried to hold sway over these small towns."

Nate pulled a map out, tracing a path where they needed to travel. "We'll start looking around here. We might be able to make it a straight shot, but our goal is Misiones. There's going to be a lot of driving so we're going to need to get moving, fast. Ready to go ask some questions and make a lot of people uncomfortable?"

Nora turned and smiled, grabbing some papers. "Why not? Let the boys sleep; they're the ones who are going to be doing all the driving."

* * *

I finally found where I'm going with the rest of this story, so now I'm pretty sure i can continue. I've been pretty lost on where I was going with this, and the timeframe was a big issue...blah blah. I'm here, i'm back, and now to get the story and action rolling. Omg i'm so sorry for the wait.


End file.
